Other than you, no one else will do
by IcyLady
Summary: In which (school) life goes on happily, if not chronologically. This work is a series of unconnected, short stories revolving around the characters of Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun and their relationships. Expect fluff and attempts at humour and happy endings all around.
1. A battle of roses

**Hey there! I started writing this as a sort of challenge/break/whatever, to random prompts given to me by kantellis. They're short and somewhat more relaxed than what I usually write. They started coming out better than I initially expected so I'm posting the first one. More will come, at random time intervals, since I need to re-read the ones I have and create new ones. Each of the stories can be read separately though and there will be no cliff-hangers. Just fluff, happiness and hopefully fun.**

 **The title of each chapter is the prompt, in case you're wondering.**

* * *

 **A battle of roses**

It started with a single, red rose in full bloom that Mikoto Mikoshiba found in his shoe locker on Valentine's Day, when he was going home. There were also chocolates that accompanied the rose, however, Mikoshiba's birthday was on the 14th of February and he always got more chocolates than he could possibly eat in a month or five, so those went all but unnoticed. But the rose!

It was stunningly beautiful. Delicate petals, deep red in colour, fanned out, their edges curled outwards, creating a delightfully full blossom. It was the kind of rose Mikoshiba aimed at when he was drawing his flowers and it was the colour he would have liked to draw, if he was drawing in colour. In one word, it was a perfect rose and it deserved every bit of his awe, as he stared at it in shock, forgetting where he was and what he was going to do, tuning out the light monologue that died down anyway.

If he has paid attention he would have probably noticed Yuu Kashima's expression and mark that day in the calendar, for it wasn't often that the illustrious Prince was jealous of anything or anybody that didn't have to do with Masayuki Hori's attention and affection. And it was fairly certain that it wasn't the president of the drama club who has left the rose in Mikoshiba's shoe locker.

He did notice the avid desire in Chiyo Sakura's gaze moments later. She and Yuzuki Seo made their way towards him and Kashima, called over by the enthusiastic Prince now apparently on a mission to let the entire school know what happened. And by the time they have arrived, Mikoshiba has managed to shake off the first shock, just enough to become aware of his surroundings somewhat.

'But you can't eat it,' Seo pointed out with a small grimace, when she saw the rose Mikoshiba was still holding delicately. She was the only one, of the four of them, to not be thoroughly amazed by the flower. Was she even human?

'It's so beautiful,' Sakura sighed at the same time, awe and longing mixing in her voice. Mikoshiba could almost bet she was already imagining herself receiving a red rose from a certain, oblivious mangaka. He felt a bit sorry for her.

Meanwhile, Kashima wordlessly traced the edge of one petal with her finger, before withdrawing her hand rapidly. Another time, Mikoshiba would be surprised by the uncharacteristic show of shyness from the school's Prince.

'Was there a letter at least?' Seo asked in a bored tone. The question prompted Mikoshiba to look back into the locker, to find the small box of chocolates, in a form of a red heart, and an envelope.

The letter wasn't signed, Kashima told Hori on the train sometime later that day. She has read it and, since it was short, memorized it, giving the train passengers an impromptu rendition of the content that made everybody around stare in awe. Rather than addressing the slight hint of jealousy in her tone, when she described the rose, Hori focused on correcting her delivery and they spent the rest of the train ride taking turns at romantic monologues. It was probably the most fun Hori had that day. Feeling oddly indulgent, he didn't hesitate to tell that to Kashima as they parted, knowing it would make her happy.

It probably made her forget all about the rose and Mikoshiba, if her reaction was any indication. And Hori didn't really want to delve into the implications of this. In fact, he wanted to forget all about red roses in full bloom left in shoe lockers. He has thrown his out before anybody could see because, for one, he didn't have time for secret crushes. Besides, it surely wasn't from Kashima, who has already given him her "store bought" chocolates and was not one for such subtle gestures.

Not that he would be interested in getting a rose from Kashima. Not at all.

Was what he told himself firmly and walked home. And he forgot all about red roses until the following morning, when he arrived to a school bursting with gossip: Mikoshiba and Wakamatsu have found roses in their shoe lockers. The roses were accompanied by cute chocolates in heart-shaped boxes and a thoroughly romantic, anonymous love letters. Exactly the same love letters, word to word, as a suspicious Kashima informed him.

It took Hori half a day to realize why nobody, not Mikoshiba, not Wakamatsu and not even Sakura, figured out what has happened. Then he realized that nobody knew he also got the rose, completing the exclusive group of Umetarou Nozaki's male manga helpers. Not that he planned on telling anybody, since he didn't want this kind of attention on him. That was why he found Nozaki as soon as he could and informed him, very politely and calmly, that if Nozaki said anything about it, Hori himself would make sure that everybody in the school knew it was Nozaki who planted the roses in the shoe lockers, unable to contain his long since repressed passion.

'What did you feel when you saw it, senpai?' the annoying mangaka asked in reply, seemingly not bothered by the threat in the least. 'Did your heart beat faster?'

'No,' came the flat answer, accompanied by what Hori hoped was a pointed glare. Not that it mattered, because Nozaki was writing in his notebook. When did he even take it out?

'Did your heart beat faster when you got chocolates from Kashima?' he asked without lifting his head from his notes.

'No? Why would it?' Hori asked back. 'It's not like it was even a surprise,' he pointed out. He briefly thought about how Kashima has sneaked into his classroom the previous day. Well, it wasn't technically "sneaking in", but with Kashima anything that didn't alert half the school of her actions could be considered discrete.

It has been somewhat surprising on his second year, especially since it has probably been the first time when Hori has interacted with the incorrigible Prince with no theatrics or drama involved. But this time? He would have been more surprised if she hasn't given him a box of nicely wrapped chocolates that tasted far better than their store-bought counterparts, even if they looked exactly the same.

'What wasn't a surprise?' Sakura asked, coming up to them.

'Kashima's chocolates,' Hori replied easily.

And, as far as Hori was concerned, that was the end of the rose story. He tuned out Sakura's enthusiastic rendition of what has happened by Mikoshiba's shoe locker and bid his goodbyes to the two, only briefly wondering whether Sakura has managed to give her own chocolates to Nozaki. He knew that she has planned something "special", but Kashima hasn't been forthcoming with details for once. Not that he cared. He couldn't understand why girls made such a fuss out of it anyway: what was wrong with simply handing over the chocolate box with a soft, cute smile?

Right, Hori, topic change. He was definitely not remembering Kashima with any degree of fondness.

 **})i({**

It must be nice to receive roses, Kashima thought glumly, watching one of the first-year girls walk into the drama club room with a large bouquet of blood-red flowers. Even from where she was sitting, pretending to be working on the decoration for the next play, chin propped on her hand, Kashima could see the radiating smile that lit up the girl's face as some others ran up, asking all sorts of questions.

Whoever offered roses to Mikoshiba and Wakamatsu has sure started a trend in the school. It seemed that the most desired gift this White Day was a bouquet of roses, ideally red since they symbolized love, and it appeared that a considerable number of boys have caught on, some better than others. Kashima has lost count of the girls who showed off their bouquets with pride. She has seen Chiyo blush as Mikoshiba pushed a small bouquet of white roses into her hands before running away, blushing himself. She has seen Yuzuki sporting a surprisingly thoughtful expression as she tore off petal after petal from bright orange roses lying on her desk.

Kashima has even been thinking about buying some, albeit pale pink, for her princesses, many of whom have mentioned how amazing it would be to get flowers. However, a rare spark of practicality shot the idea down: she didn't really know how many princesses there were and there was no way she could allow for any to be left empty-handed. Plus, even in the most modest estimates, assuming only one rose per princess, she was arriving and numbers and sums of money that were far too large.

'Kashima,' she heard behind her and literally jumped in the air. She kept her balance easily enough, turning around in her crouched position, fully expecting Hori-senpai to start complaining about how she hasn't done anything since he has left her.

Instead, she recoiled in surprise and had to prop her hand on the half-painted decoration now behind her, to avoid falling onto it completely: a single, beautifully red rose in full bloom was thrust almost in her face. It certainly wasn't anything she has expected. Her eyes widened as she took in the flower, glancing beyond it to make sure that it really was Hori-senpai holding it out to her. It was.

'Senpai,' she whispered in awe, lifting up her hand to gently trace the edge of one of the petals. It was even more beautiful than the one she remembered Mikoshiba getting, she thought. Hori clicked his tongue in irritation. The sound, quiet as it was, echoed in the suddenly silent club room.

'Are you going to take it or not?' Hori asked. Was it her imagination or was senpai blushing, standing there with the red rose for her in front of the whole drama club? With a laugh, Kashima took the rose from his hand and breathed in the sweet smell. She wanted to quote Romeo and Juliet, but Hori-senpai was holding out a hand for her. Without hesitation, she grabbed it and he pulled her up, speaking again: 'Get your things, Kashima. I promised we'll go to have parfaits today, didn't I?'

He hadn't. But it didn't matter.

With a delighted squeal, Kashima closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Over his muffled protests, she loudly proclaimed that senpai was the best in the whole world. And if she truly, honestly meant it, beyond her excessive act, well, nobody needed to know, right?


	2. Black Friday

**Black Friday**

Traditions or the lack of them aside, a sale was a sale and Umetarou Nozaki has been compiling his list of supplies for two weeks now, eager to get everything discounted even if it meant nearly completely exhausting his supply of screen tones before restocking.

Thankfully the deadline for the next chapter was on Sunday evening, meaning Monday morning in practice. He could gather his helpers over the weekend, first Hori and Wakamatsu on Saturday afternoon then Mikoshiba and Sakura on Sunday morning, and finish everything with the supplies he has bought on the Black Friday sales. He would even have Sunday evening to go through the finished chapter calmly, to make sure that no mistakes have slipped through. The plan was perfect and completely fool-proof.

Except Mikoto Mikoshiba, who has kindly offered to go with him and help him carry everything back home in exchange for an evening of gaming, arrived at the shoe lockers with Yuu Kashima. A very curious Yuu Kashima, who immediately proclaimed that she too wanted to go shopping and they should simply go all together. Nozaki didn't care much, but Mikoshiba was as adamant as Hori that Kashima doesn't find out about the manga making.

'What the hell, Kashima, we're not going to buy girly stuff,' Mikoshiba protested. Nozaki raised an eyebrow at him, but chose not to comment. Instead he observed how Mikoshiba stammered when Kashima asked what they were planning to buy. An idea about Mamiko going to buy a new dress in secret, to impress Suzuki, popped into his head. Perhaps including the Black Friday sales into the next chapter wasn't such a bad idea, he thought.

'Anyway, there are far more cool shirts for guys, so I'm fine going with you,' the Prince commented before Mikoshiba could come up with an excuse. 'Let's have a competition to see who can pull off the craziest shirt better,' she suggested, nearly sparkling in her enthusiasm.

A disturbing idea of Suzuki trying on girly dresses to compete with Mamiko violently reminded Nozaki why he still wasn't using Kashima as inspiration.

'You're so on, my little princeling. I'll show you what a true man is like,' Mikoshiba replied in his most seductive voice, completely forgetting the problem at hand.

'Please sweep me off my feet,' Kashima replied in kind, taking a step closer to Mikoshiba and grabbing his hand, pulling it up to her lips. Nozaki could imagine the sparkling flowers Mikoshiba would draw around himself and Kashima if this was a box in a shoujo manga. And, despite his reluctance to use Kashima as a model, he whipped out his notebook and roughly sketched Mamiko and Suzuki in the same pose.

"After Mamiko guiltily admits she was going to buy a dress to impress Suzuki," he wrote on the side and turned back to the real people in front of him, right on time to see Mikoshiba sink to his knees, hiding his red face in his hands, completely defeated by the Prince's charm. Or cheesiness. It was always difficult to tell with those two interacting.

'Really though, you really want to come?' he asked as Kashima stepped away from Mikoshiba, cackling gleefully. 'Isn't it better to take some girls and go shopping for girly stuff?' he added, struck by a sudden inspiration as to how he could discourage Kashima from following Mikoshiba and, consequently, keep the latter to help him carry stuff.

And of course, Chiyo Sakura chose the worst moment possible to join them, a bright smile on her face as she looked up at Nozaki.

'Ready to go shopping?' she asked, her tone matching her smile. Funny how she seemingly hasn't noticed the situation for once, Nozaki thought. Usually she was pretty good with reading the situation. He didn't have the time to react in any way, however, before Kashima wrapped an arm around Sakura's shoulders, her smile blindingly bright.

'I'll take Chiyo and go shopping with you all, yey! Let's hang out Chiyo! It'll be so much fun. Mikoshiba and I agreed to make a shirt competition, do you want to join? I bet you could pull it off well. Hey, how about that: we could all try outrageous shirts and see who looks the best? And the looser should buy ice-cream for others. And if we try men's shirts then maybe the boys should try women's shirts as well, what do you think?' Kashima barely paused, briefly glancing around before continuing with doubled enthusiasm: 'Oh, Hori-senpai! You arrive right on time. Let's go shopping all together! If we make all the guys try skirts and dresses you won't have to feel bad ab- ow!'

Masayuki Hori silenced Kashima with a whack on the back of her head. While she rubbed her head with a pout, he glanced at the group and Nozaki wondered whether his arrival was a coincident or if Kashima's voice was like a magnet for him. Then again they were at the school's exit.

'It's true that it would be fun to go shopping all together,' Sakura noted, completely ignoring Mikoshiba's betrayed expression. Nozaki smiled with pride: at least one of them wasn't ashamed of helping him with the manga. 'I like the idea of fashion competition,' she added brightly, turning to Kashima. Nozaki's smile fell: she was trying to get out of the manga shopping.

'I was thinking to get-' Hori paused, glancing briefly at Kashima, then at Mikoshiba. He sighed. 'A new shirt anyway,' he finished, not sounding at all awkward even though he must have invented it on the spot to cover for his near "slip".

Ah damn, Nozaki thought, Hori and Mikoshiba didn't know they were both helping with manga and were both stupidly stubborn that the other doesn't find out to not let it slip to Kashima. And with the actual cause of this charade present, it would be impossible to have them as much as look towards the art supply corner of the shop.

'I want to buy the same shirt as senpai,' Kashima proclaimed gleefully, stepping aside to avoid another whack on the back of her head.

She actually did it. Sakura couldn't get over her amazement at seeing Kashima casually walk into the men's trying room to try the same, blue, fitted shirt her beloved senpai has just taken to try and buying it when Hori bought his with only a small, tired sigh. Like it was no big deal, she thought, watching Kashima laugh that wearing the new shirt to her Sunday date would be almost like taking Hori-chan-senpai with her.

'Do you think I want to go on your dates with your princesses?' Hori exclaimed, annoyed. He didn't even blush when Kashima leaned near him, turning up her charm to maximum, to ask whether he would prefer a one-on-one date with her instead. 'Don't be an idiot,' he grumbled instead, stepping away.

'It wouldn't work so well with you and Nozaki, it's a shame, isn't it?' Mikoshiba's question, asked right into Sakura's ear, made her jump in surprise. He laughed. 'If you took the same size of shirt as Nozaki it'd look like some sort of weird dress on you,' he added, amused.

Wearing Nozaki's shirt, Sakura thought, feeling her face grow incredibly hot. Mikoshiba was suggesting she wore Nozaki's shirt. Mikoshiba was giving her a shirt to try. Oh my god, dared she do it? What would Nozaki say?

'I'm curious,' said the mangaka, face completely impassive. Sakura nearly swooned. He was holding a shirt the same colour as the one Mikoshiba pushed into Sakura's hands. On shaky legs, she followed him to the trying rooms, trying to not think too much, to not imagine wearing the same shirt-

She was politely refused access to men's changing room. Apparently it was against the shop's policy to let women use men's trying rooms. Nozaki looked good in the shirt and decided to buy it, since it was on sale, but it wasn't the same. Even if Sakura went to the women's trying room now, with the shirt, it wouldn't be the same.

'Haha, that's why we brought some clothes here,' announced Yuzuki Seo, snapping Sakura out of her misery. She turned to see her friend, approaching together with a beaming Kashima, dragging Wakamatsu by the tie. 'Heya guys! Kashima tells me we're having fun with clothes,' she greeted the others. Only then did Sakura notice that both Kashima and Yuzuki had hands full of clothes. Surprisingly sparkly clothes.

Was it Sakura or did Hori actually take a step back?

'Hori-chan-senpai! I chose the nicest dress in the shop for you to try,' the Prince announced, loud enough for the people in three meter radius to turn to look. 'Well, the nicest Yuzuki would let me, anyway,' she added much quieter.

'The deal is to wear the most outrageous stuff, right?' Seo asked, throwing a hot-pink, sequin-covered dress straight into Nozaki's face. 'Waka agreed to try this green, glitter mermaid dress when I told him Lorelei would love it,' she laughed.

Somehow, Sakura thought that Wakamatsu's expression didn't really look like he "agreed".

'We have something for you too, Mikoshiba,' Kashima exclaimed. She waved two dresses, one pastel blue and another blood red. Sakura blinked. Wait, didn't the blue one look a bit like Frozen's Elsa's icy gown? Somewhat pale on the face, Hori took another step back, but Mikoshiba and Nozaki grabbed him by the shoulders.

'No way, man, we're in this together,' they said in unison. The president of the drama club struggled weakly.

'Then let's get out of it together,' he hissed. 'It's not like they can catch us,' he pointed out.

'I want to see Wakamatsu's dress,' Nozaki countered. What the hell? Not Mikorin? Sakura wanted to see Mikoshiba in the blood red, frilly dress Kashima pushed into his free hand as she arrived.

'It's Kashima and Seo, senpai, weigh your words carefully,' Mikoshiba pointed out. Anyway, Seo and Kashima have arrived, so it was too late. And Sakura only pretended to be reluctant in helping them herd Wakamatsu, Hori and Mikoshiba into the trying rooms, because if she focused on acting she would not have to consider how willingly Nozaki turned around and led the way.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the shop was also against men trying out dresses.


	3. Snowball fight

**Snowball fight**

It started snowing during the morning homeroom. By the time the first lesson started, it became a snow storm, despite the weather forecast having only mentioned the possibility of light snowfall, making it was almost impossible to see anything outside. None of the students remembered anything like that in their lives and staring out the windows took the attention of many away from the lesson. It calmed down eventually, sometime during the second lesson, but the steady snowfall continued and by the time the lunchbreak rolled by there was only one thing to do: a snowball fight.

Chiyo Sakura was eagerly heading towards the main exit, together with Yuzuki Seo and most of their classmates when she noticed a tall figure standing by the window in one of the classrooms they were passing on the way, making her pause. And although she couldn't exactly say she was surprised by it, there was a small sting of disappointment that her heart-throb wasn't going to be down there: her head has immediately conjured up a number of romantic scenarios when she thought about meeting Umetarou Nozaki in the snowball fight.

Then again, that was probably precisely why he was there, in a classroom that wasn't even his, staring out onto the main courtyard. Even from the corridor, Sakura could already hear excited shouting of the first ones to spill out from the school building. Nozaki looked down and Sakura could imagine hearing the scribbling of his pen on paper.

'I'll catch up,' she told Seo. His friend glanced at her doubtfully, before following her gaze and smirking.

'I'll push you on him later on,' she promised and ran to catch up with the rest of the class before Sakura could even think to protest. Then again, was she really going to protest? It was natural that people fell in a snowball fight so it wouldn't be anything weird if she and Nozaki- She had to stop that train of thought, feeling her face heat up.

Really, she was on a mission here, she thought. Clearing her throat, she entered the classroom, smiling slightly when Nozaki glanced her way. He acknowledged her with a nod and turned back to the window while she walked up to stand next to him, shivering with cold when she realized he has opened the window to hear better.

'Let's settle our rivalry once and for all, Mikoshiba,' proclaimed a familiar voice. Nozaki started, as though he was surprised or struck by a sudden idea, and started scribbling furiously. Cackling, like that of an evil witch, followed the words and Sakura looked down to find the source.

It was never difficult to find Yuu Kashima, no matter the crowd. Usually, it sufficed to simply look into the very middle of the crowd, although this time it seemed that her fangirls were too busy throwing snowballs at each other to declare the winner. Sakura wasn't sure what the prize was, but she thought she heard something about having parfaits with Kashima.

'You're so on, you fiend,' Mikoshiba exclaimed at the same time as Sakura finally found the duo. Not a moment too late either, she thought, because the intense exchange of pre-prepared snowballs was definitely worth seeing. Even more so were the poses Mikoshiba struck to avoid being hit, since obviously Kashima had a better aim than him, finally incapacitating Kashima with laughter.

'Ah, Nozaki-kun, don't you think it would be funnier to join them?' Sakura suggested, fighting to stifle her own giggling at Mikorin's efforts.

'A chaotic snowball fight like that is nothing but an invitation to injury,' he replied, not even glancing up from his notebook, where he was fighting to write the most with the least characters possible, probably because there were too many things happening at the same time. 'Besides, participating in the fight I wouldn't be able to see so many things,' he added.

'But what about the feelings?' Sakura tried in a forcefully calm tone, not wanting to admit her desperation even to herself. 'Can you justly portray the feelings of being in a snowball fight without ever participating in one?'

Nozaki froze. Oh, oh - did I get him? Will he agree? Sakura's excitement was difficult to contain as she watched Nozaki think. She could almost hear his thoughts. She is right, he would think. Even if I have the scenes I need the emotions behind, he would realize. And to get those emotions I need to-

'It's decided then,' Nozaki proclaimed, finally facing her properly. Sakura jumped a little in surprise, but it was quickly erased by the excited anticipation of hearing the words-

'I need you to go there and then tell me everything.'

Well, not those words.

She deflated, but Nozaki didn't even notice: on the courtyard Kashima shrieked in shock and he spun around to look what was happening. And Sakura had to blink away the tears of frustration because was that man completely blind? Damn it! Then she heard laughter, clear and amused, and she forgot a little bit about her disappointment, curious to see who it was.

'Senpai,' Kashima exclaimed in shock and delight and somehow the volume of the laughter increased. Wow, thought Sakura, have I ever heard Hori-senpai laughing? Well, there he was, nearly doubled in laughter and it wasn't difficult to guess that the cause was managing to make Kashima shriek like that was the cause.

Downstairs, Yuu Kashima was star-struck. Her beloved senpai rarely looked as carefree and amused as now. He needed it, far too stressed every day, and seeing it almost made up for the feeling of icy cold water slowly dripping down her back. She took a moment to memorize this, before grabbing a handful of snow. Hori-senpai has managed to surprise her by that particularly well-thrown snowball, hitting Kashima on the back of her head, right above the scarf. And that meant one thing:

'Revenge,' she yelled gleefully and pounced, a loose snowball in her hand.

Masayuki Hori reacted a fraction of second too late. His laughter cut short, even if his amusement didn't fade in the least, and he focused on the menace flying at him. She had a very good aim, he knew. In a desperate measure to throw her off course, he thrust his hands forward, hoping to push her away.

Kashima threw the snowball in the same moment. It sailed neatly towards his face as she slipped on a sliding patch with a strangled yell. And what was a move to push her away suddenly became a pull, so that she didn't fall.

The snowball hit him square on the face. Kashima hit him a split of a second later, their feet somehow entangling on the slippery ground. He lost his footing and they both shouted as they fell.

Landing in a pile of fresh snow was a small blessing. Having the school's Prince land on top of him somewhat less so, but when Kashima brushed her own snowball from his face and asked whether he was ok, Hori realized he couldn't find even a sliver of annoyance in himself. He took one glance at her worried expression, her cheeks red from the cold and exertion and he laughed. A split of a second after, she laughed as well.

Neither of them noticed a photo being taken by one of Hori's classmates.

Watching Kashima and Hori pick themselves up and brush the snow off themselves, Kashima helping Hori with his back, Sakura sighed with longing. The two were still laughing and she would bet her head that neither realized just how romantic their little mishap was. Why were they so oblivious and getting all she wanted? The world was unfair, she thought, glancing at Nozaki.

His cheeks were flushed with excitement, as though he has participated in the incident himself, and he was scribbling in his notebook with fervour, even adding rough sketches to not forget anything from the perfectly shoujo-manga-viable scene. And his dedication made Sakura smile just a little and wonder if perhaps it wasn't ok as it was.

'Seo incoming,' yelled a frantic voice in the courtyard. A truly demonic laughter followed, making it really easy for Sakura to find her friend: Yuzuki was running across the courtyard to the corner where the basketball team has apparently decided to build a snowman.

Hearing the alarmed shout, Hirotaka Wakamatsu snapped his eyes away from the snowman onto which he has just placed the third and smallest ball of snow. Oh no, he thought with resignation, Seo-senpai was going to come and jump-kick the snowman just to destroy it and all the effort they have put into it will go to waste!

'Run, Wakamatsu,' he heard vaguely and snapped out of his misery. He wasn't sure which of the guys has shouted, unable to look away from Seo's devilish grin and gleaming eyes. Really, she was horrible, he thought.

'She's coming at you,' somebody else shouted and Wakamatsu felt a hand pulling his sleeve.

Ah damn, she was going to level him along with the snowman, he realized. Responding to the pull, he turned around and made a move to get away. Too late.

Gleefully, Yuzuki Seo ripped the top ball off the snowman and jumped. Like she would when she was dunking the ball in the basketball court, she slammed the ball of snow onto the top of Wakamatsu's head. As he fell, she landed next to him and laughed.

'I betcha didn't see that coming,' she announced, completely oblivious to the terrified expressions of the rest of the team. On the floor, Wakamatsu groaned quietly.

'No, not that,' he mumbled. He wasn't sure if he hadn't preferred it if she has jump-kicked the snowman onto him. Perhaps running wasn't the answer then.

'Haha, you look hilarious,' she replied, grabbing his hand and pulling him up. He let her, slightly stunned from the hit. 'You'll catch a cold if you let the snow soak through your clothes,' she added, starting to brush the white fluff off him.

'Senpai,' Wakamatsu whispered, touched. She cared, didn't she? Everybody said she was so awful, but Wakamatsu was sure there was the core of kindness in her and she was just too shy to let it show. One day he would have to let her know it was ok, tell her that she didn't need to hide her kindness.

He shrieked when a loose snowball slapped against the back of his neck. Clumps of snow fell through the gaps between his scarf and coat. And Seo ran away cackling.

'That woman,' Nozaki growled, glaring in the direction of Seo. Sakura laughed nervously. Perhaps it was good that she hasn't gone to the courtyard with Nozaki, she thought. After all, Seo has said "push you onto him" but couldn't it just as well mean "jump-kick you onto him"?


	4. Home economics

**Home economics**

The Roman Academy was a high school of good reputation, both for its teaching standards and the general behaviour it demanded from and instilled into the students. As such, it was no surprise that the home economics classes were also taken to the top notch level and where other schools might demand for the students to knit a simple scarf, in Roman Academy it had to be a scarf with a pattern. And perpendicular stripes didn't count.

Indeed a task of knitting a scarf was a second-year assignment, much to the dismay of nearly all the boys in every class. They were given some templates everybody could choose from: dots or squares of different sizes all through the scarf's length or more complicated shapes but only one at each end of the scarf. They were also given an option of inventing their own pattern, but very few chose to do so and Chiyo Sakura has found out why the hard way. It was far more work. She was just finishing her scarf, kind of proud that the yellow, autumn leaves on her deep red scarf were identifiable, rather than just irregular blobs of yellow.

Originally she took the template of a scarf in big dots, but when everybody in the class started laughing that she really loved her dots, she suddenly remembered the screen tone Nozaki and Wakamatsu have named after her. And so she took an insane amount of time to transform the dots into something that was supposed to resemble maple leaves. Of course that meant her scarf was far more difficult than it was supposed to, meaning she had to catch up after school with the project. And then she even gave up on club activities for a few days, because she simply couldn't pause in her beta work for Nozaki.

However, the feeling of accomplishment when she looked at the only slightly crooked scarf was definitely worth the trouble. The teacher's approval and the appreciation for the work she has put in the project were also nice, even if a higher grade wasn't why she changed the pattern. The only drawback was that she hadn't thought about a possible use for the scarf. Indeed, it was only when the teacher suggested they could use the handmade scarves as Christmas gifts that Sakura acknowledged that possibility. And by then it was too late to wonder what colours and pattern Umetarou Nozaki would have liked.

Thus she resigned to wear her own scarf that winter. It wasn't such a bad solution, really, because the scarf was nice and warm. All her classmates were impressed by her maple leaves, since she was the only one in their class to choose a custom pattern. She wore it also going to visit Nozaki one late morning towards the end of the winter break, to help him finish the most recent chapter of his highly successful manga.

As usual, she let herself in after a polite knock on the door. She chirped her greeting as she stopped in the genkan to take off the shoes, not missing the fact that there were two pairs of shoes already there. She wouldn't even get any quality time with Nozaki-kun, she thought with some disappointment, but chased the sentiment away quickly. She was here to help with the manga first and foremost. Besides, if Hori-senpai was in a good mood, he would perhaps teach her a bit about doing backgrounds and she'd be one step closer to having an excuse to stay overnight at Nozaki's!

With that thought firm in her mind and a bright smile on her face, she made her way to the room where two high schoolers were kneeling by the table, working in silence. They turned to greet her and ask how she was and she replied she was great. She sat at the table with them and went about preparing her own work station when something caught her attention.

'Senpai, you have a new scarf?' she asked, curious. It was sticking out of his bag, knitted, navy blue and decorated with a perfect, yellow, five-point star at the end. It looked to be really well made, but the pattern seemed vaguely familiar. Wasn't a five-point star one of the templates they have been given to choose from in home economics? She was pretty sure it was. But in that case- Could it be what she thought it was?

Masayuki Hori glanced at the scarf with a bored expression.

'Kashima gave it to me for Christmas,' he said casually, like it was no big deal to get a handmade Christmas gift from a girl. Completely oblivious to how Sakura's eyes widened in unhidden shock or how Nozaki perked up at hearing the words, he went back to drawing the background he was working on previously.

'Did you go on a date with Kashima on Christmas Day, senpai?' Nozaki asked after a brief moment of silence. Sakura heard him take out his notebook. She tore her eyes from the perfect, like everything Kashima did, scarf: she wanted to see Hori's reaction to the question. And she was thoroughly disappointed when the third-year didn't even look up from the page he was drawing on.

'Don't be stupid Nozaki,' he said dryly. He frowned at the lines he drew and began to erase some of them. 'I promised I'd take her for parfaits on Christmas Day if she attended all of December's club hours. The play we made this term required a lot of new props and loads of people get sick in the winter, so I couldn't have anybody slacking off,' he explained.

'Did you give her anything back?' Sakura asked, doing her best to hide her excitement as Hori actually glanced at her before shrugging and going back to work.

'The scarf I made last year,' he said, still in that casual voice. Sakura gasped, because it was simply too perfect. She immediately imagined a boy making a scarf for the girl he liked and keeping it for a year so that when she does the same they could exchange. She could easily visualise the scene: they meet and she gives him the scarf and he gives her one back, saying he's kept it especially for her, for this moment. And she would smile sweetly-

'Last year that spoiled prince got a stupid idea into her head and she kept bugging me about it. Stop using this as manga ideas, Nozaki,' Hori grumbled, glaring at the mangaka who was still scribbling in his notebook. 'I only agreed so that she shuts up. I should have known she wouldn't forget about it, but to think that she'd use the same pattern with inverted colours! That girl should definitely put more effort into remembering to come to club hours. Hey, Nozaki: where are they standing in this picture?' he asked, pointing to a place on a new page of the manga.

Matching patterns, Sakura thought, star struck.

'Hello everybody, I'm sorry I'm late,' Hirotaka Wakamatsu said, walking into the room with a smile. He was pulling on his scarf to take it off as he walked and Sakura immediately recognized it. In her head he could almost hear Yuzuki's complains at how stupidly difficult it was to make the black musical notes on the ends of the green scarf.

'Yuzuki gave you her scarf?' she exclaimed. And she promptly blushed at the implications of her own question: why was she the only one to have failed? And why were Hori and Nozaki staring at her in surprise instead of gawking at the proof of Seo's feelings towards Wakamatsu?

'Seo didn't tell you she was planning to?' Nozaki asked.

'Well, she kind of said she didn't know what to do with it,' Wakamatsu laughed. 'And that she thought it would remind me of Lorelei, since it has musical notes, but really, now it reminds me of Seo-senpai just as much, so it's hardly nice.'

'That woman,' Nozaki grumbled with irritation.

'Did you give your scarf to anybody, Sakura-senpai?' Wakamatsu asked casually, sitting at the last, free side of the table, pulling out his cutting knife. Sakura felt her cheeks burn as she looked at the manga on the table, mumbling about not having anybody to whom she would want to give a handmade scarf. She didn't notice Wakamatsu and Hori exchanging glances.

'Come to think of it, Nozaki, didn't you have to make one as well this year?' Hori asked, not looking up from his backgrounds. Sakura, on the other hand, nearly jumped on the spot, straightening and looking at Nozaki with such intensity as though she wanted to read his thoughts about the scarf. He didn't notice, because he turned away and pulled the scarf off from his desk.

'It was a very instructive experience,' he said in all seriousness, showing them the red scarf in white polka dots he has knitted. Sakura froze. It was her favourite pattern. It was the one she would have liked to do if not-

'Oh, that's the "Sakura screen tone", senpai,' Wakamatsu exclaimed with a short laugh. If not for that, Sakura thought, deflating.

'Yeah, it was the first template I grabbed,' Nozaki said with a nod. 'I thought I could just as well go for the screen tone, since it seemed not many people in the class wanted to use bright red yarn, so I didn't need to fight with anybody for that one.'

'Isn't that pattern pretty difficult?' Hori asked with a frown. 'It has so many dots and don't they subtract points if you misplace them too? Going for something like that just because it was a screen tone seems like a bit of a stretch,' he added.

'I never want to do anything like that again,' Nozaki agreed solemnly and put the scarf away. 'I wanted to make a whole chapter about Mamiko struggling with knitting a scarf, but Ken-san said it was too boring and I should just write one about how she already has the scarf and wants to give it to Suzuki. But I didn't know how to describe their feelings since I never received anything homemade.'

'I can give you my scarf, Nozaki-kun,' slipped out of Sakura's mouth before she realized. Blushing furiously, she slapped a hand over her lips and looked at Nozaki's reaction.

There was none. He just looked at her blankly for a moment before nodding.

'Very well then, let's exchange,' he extended his scarf towards her, across the table. Feeling light and happy, Sakura accepted it, immediately wrapping it around her neck and hiding half of her face in it. Nozaki-kun's scarf! She got Nozaki-kun's scarf!

The sound of scribbling sent her crashing down from her little cloud. And when Nozaki said to himself that he could possibly manage something now and asked Hori and Wakamatsu about their thoughts on the topic, she wished the ground would swallow her.

* * *

Poor Sakura, she chose a difficult guy to fall in love with.

Also, if anybody was wondering, Mikoshiba obviously made a scarf with the manliest pattern he could find among the templates and used the most fashionable colours (for men) of the season. The question is whether he gave it as a gift to Mayu or not :P


	5. Karaoke

**Happy New Year!**

* * *

 **Karaoke**

This year his birthday fell on a Saturday, which couldn't have been more perfect. Saturday meant that he would meet everybody at school, thus managing to ask them to hang out "casually" with him. Yet the school day was short and no club activities were taking place, so the outing wouldn't clash with anybody's plans. He was going to gather material for at least three chapters of manga: that was his plan, his birthday gift for himself.

Except, about ten days before his birthday, Sakura very seriously told him to make no plans for the sixth of June. He was surprised, but not completely deterred. He asked Hori and Wakamatsu whether they wanted to hang out, but they both told him their clubs had some extra practice due to insert-reason-here. Mikorin stammered something about a sale in the figurine shop. Even his brother had a prior appointment to go to apparently.

Umetarou Nozaki wasn't at all disappointed that they had seemingly all forgotten about his birthday, no, no. Has he even told them? He didn't know when Hori's birthday was, for example. Well, his brother should remember, but perhaps Mayu's brain was too lazy to think about that, since it didn't have anything to do with judo. What he was disappointed about was gathering material for his manga, since the summer dating was always tricky and he wanted to do something different than all the other shoujo mangakas.

Well, nothing for it, he thought. He slipped on his shoes and made his way out of the school building, wondering whether he should head home or go to the shopping centre. Not only was there a book shop with plenty of manga, but also, he could observe people. Perhaps he could come up with something.

Oh, he thought, there was somebody waiting at the gate! Perhaps he ought to slow down and hang around to see what their deal was. Perhaps it was a sweetheart of somebody from the school. And come to think of it, he hasn't really put anything about meeting students from other schools in his manga, has he?

Hey, hey, wasn't this the uniform from his brother's school? Wait a second: wasn't that actually his brother? What the hell?

'Nozaki-kun, Nozaki-kun!' a familiar voice shouted behind him. Nozaki glanced to see Sakura waving at him with a bright smile. She was jogging towards him, a group of people following her, but she slowed down when she saw him stop and turn. 'Happy birthday, Nozaki-kun,' she exclaimed so loud that probably the whole school yard heard her.

'Happy birthday, Nozaki,' some people echoed. Some stopped to wish him happy birthday while Sakura and her group made their way up to him. He whipped out his notebook and wrote the idea down: Mamiko shouting "happy birthday" to Suzuki, then being embarrassed like Mikoshiba while Suzuki gets wished happy birthday by some other girls.

'Sakura, this is a great idea for-' he started when she was close enough, but Mikoshiba suddenly wishing him happy birthday again cut him off. He looked at his friend with some surprise, because he sounded desperate. Then he noticed both Seo and Kashima among the group. Ah.

Chiyo Sakura smiled brightly. Mission accomplished. She was, of course, the mastermind behind the surprise outing for Nozaki and she has planned everything meticulously. Including taking Seo and Kashima along. She knew that both Mikorin and Hori-senpai would actively stop Nozaki from talking about work if Kashima was around. Perhaps Mikoshiba more so than Hori, but between the two of them she would probably not even have to lift a finger to spend time with Nozaki and talk about other stuff than manga.

'We wanted to make a surprise for you,' she said in her most innocent tone.

'Yo,' said Mayu Nozaki, coming up from behind. He nodded at his brother when Nozaki looked at him and that seemed to be all that he planned to do in terms of birthday wishes. Then again, Nozaki smiled and thanked him, so it must have been ok.

Without further ado they went to a small café for a late lunch and a dessert. And because Sakura wasn't completely heartless, she poked and prodded so that people were sitting in romance-likely arrangement. She did feel a bit awkward for "pairing" Mikorin and Mayu, but neither seemed to be bothered or even realize they were being "paired". Indeed, none of the people at the table appeared aware of the situation, so maybe Nozaki-kun wouldn't get any good material from it anyway.

Then again, even completely oblivious, their friends were great manga inspiration. Rudely, Seo insisted on trying Wakamatsu's ice-cream dessert and she did all but force him to try her parfait in exchange. Kashima outright fed Hori her parfait with her own spoon and Sakura wasn't sure how she didn't swoon when she ate some afterwards. And Hori didn't even blush, instead returning the favour! For some weird reason even Mayu asked for a try of Mikoshiba's dessert.

And all the time Mikoshiba actively sabotaged any manga-related discussion and Hori steered the conversation away whenever Nozaki seemed like he wanted to say something about helping him draw. The only way it could have been more perfect would be if Nozaki-

'Do you want to try it, Sakura?' she heard. She must have misheard. Everybody at the table went silent watching her blink up at Nozaki. 'It's really good,' he added, waving the spoonful of ice-cream a little bit. She felt her cheeks grow hot.

'I-if it's so good,' she stammered and let him feed her the ice-cream. He did so, watching her carefully and Sakura had to look away as the ice-cream melted in her mouth. Her heart was racing from the situation and from his gaze on her, her face so hot it must have been radiating red by then. And she didn't even feel the taste of the ice-cream, because all she could think was: "oh my god, I ate from Nozaki-kun's spoon."

And he was going to eat from it now and it would be the perfect, indirect kiss and it was wreaking havoc with her heart and-

'Oi, Kashima, do you want to try some as well?' she heard and fell crashing back to earth. She became aware of her surroundings right on time to see Kashima call up her most charming smile to her face, propping her chin on her hand, head tilted slightly to the side.

'You have guessed my thoughts, my charming prince, so this must be fate that I try this sweet ambrosia from your hands,' she said in that special tone she always used on her princesses. And if Sakura wasn't so devastated for sharing an indirect kiss with Kashima, she would have blushed with second-hand seduction.

Hori whacked Kashima on the back of her head. Not really strong, but enough to immediately get all of her attention.

'Read the atmosphere, you idiot,' he growled. If it wouldn't look weird, Sakura would hug him then and there.

'But I wanted to try that dessert anyway, Hori-chan-senpai,' Kashima whined. 'I could only get one but I've never been to this café and I'd like to try all the desserts! They look so amazing,' she explained, rubbing the back of her head. She made her best sad puppy face and Sakura had to stifle the desire to say "it's ok, try it, try it," just so she stops. She had to wonder what Hori's heart was made of when he replied with a gruff "you only have to come back here, idiot."

'Seo?' Nozaki asked, undeterred. The ice-cream on his spoon was half melted though and Seo only laughed mockingly, saying that she wasn't going to eat anybody's refuse. And so Nozaki ate it, but Sakura simply couldn't find it in herself to go back to her cloud nine. Gods, what was she expecting from Nozaki anyway? He was probably looking to see the reactions of all the girls to being fed by a guy and of course he was missing the main point: it only worked with a guy they happened to like!

'Nozaki, seriously,' Mikoshiba muttered. He would bet anything anybody wanted that Nozaki was the only person at the table that didn't realize Sakura was completely head over heels for him. Well, maybe Mayu didn't realize it yet, but he wasn't really hanging out with them so it didn't count. Although to be on the safe side, maybe Mikoshiba shouldn't be making bets, lest anybody demands one of his precious figurines.

To forget about the disturbing thought of somebody taking his figurines, he focused on his dessert, but not before accepting to make Mayu try some. He had to admit that Kashima was right: all the desserts looked really appetizing and choosing only one has been difficult. Too bad Hori hasn't let Kashima try Nozaki's dessert, Mikoshiba thought. If she had tried Nozaki's then it wouldn't be anything weird if he asked to try Seo's: it looked particularly mouth-watering.

If only he had the guts to share with Kashima, he could start that trend. He would, normally, but the drama club's president looked like he'd mind. Maybe. It was difficult to say, so Mikoshiba opted to stay safe and come back another time.

Once they finished eating, Sakura suggested they move on to the next activity she has planned. Only when they arrived at they destination, she finally revealed what it was: karaoke.

'What?' he exclaimed. 'But I-' he trailed off. He couldn't say he only knew anime songs! Kashima would never stop laughing at how lame he was: he could imagine that perfectly. Seo too, she'd probably spread it around the whole school just for the sake of it.

'Oh no, I just remembered I have to go back to the club,' Kashima said in a dismayed kind of tone, taking a step back from the entrance to the venue. 'Hori-chan-senpai is probably going crazy looking for me,' she added.

'What the hell, you idiot?' Hori asked with a frown. Kashima looked at him in panic and Mikoshiba remembered she was supposed to be tone deaf. Immediately, he realized it could be one time that he was better than Kashima.

'I, uh, I forgot I have a date with some princesses planned for later,' Kashima tried again, taking another step back. Hori almost growled, before reminding her that she has turned down her princesses and he was there to witness it.

'What's up with you?' he asked. That was when Mikoshiba realized Hori didn't know Kashima couldn't sing. Suddenly he was a little bit okay to stay, just to 1) hear Kashima singing; 2) see her beloved senpai's reaction. He knew it was cruel, but he was hundred percent sure Hori would forgive her.

'Is this really a good idea?' Seo asked as well, scratching the back of her head with a sheepish expression. Mikoshiba looked at her in surprise. Wasn't she Lorelei? Why would she-

'We cannot go,' Nozaki said categorically, surprising them all so much that everybody literally jumped and turned to him.

'We shouldn't force people to sing if they can't,' Wakamatsu added with an awkward glance at Seo, who didn't notice at all. Mikoshiba frowned: what was he getting at?

'But,' Sakura trailed off. She looked devastated. 'But I already paid for the room,' she admitted mournfully. As if to prove it, she took out a slip of paper from her handbag.

'Of course we will go,' Hori assured her, grabbing Kashima by the arm, completely ignoring the scared-deer expression on her face. 'We're all grown up enough to survive a little humiliation, aren't we?' he asked and kicked Nozaki's ankle.

'Let's go then, in any case, I'll surely get some great ideas for-'

'Since it's your birthday, will you sing first?' Mikoshiba asked in a rush, interrupting Nozaki's cheerful statement. He noticed and promptly ignored Hori's curious glance sent his way. No way the drama club president had anything to do with manga, right?

They were hardly a cheerful bunch as they entered the karaoke bar, where Sakura handed in the slip of paper to the person at the entrance. The kind-looking lady smiled at them and led them to a private room. And Mikoshiba wasn't the only one stalling for time, pretending to struggle with his order of a drink, but eventually the drinks arrived and they could either start singing or sit there awkwardly, wasting their own money, which they have given to Sakura earlier that week.

'Alright,' Nozaki said, standing up stiffly. Mikoshiba's phone rang with an incoming message.

'As, sorry, I-' he trailed off when four other phones rang and everybody went to put their phone's into silent. Shrugging, Mikoshiba looked at the message, frowning when he saw that Nozaki was the sender:

"Wakamatsu cannot find out that Seo is Lorelei."

Why did Nozaki care so much? Judging by the expressions of the others around him, as well as the fact that only Wakamatsu and Seo didn't seem to have received the message, Mikoshiba guessed they all read the same. They exchanged confused glances, but just as Wakamatsu started to ask what the problem was Nozaki spoke up again.

'Please be kind to me,' he added and walked up to the machine to choose a song. He probably just picked the first one off the list, because the music started almost immediately after.

He wasn't too bad at it. When he was done, Nozaki gave the microphone to Sakura and she made up with her enthusiasm for her lack of singing skills. Slowly, the atmosphere was relaxing to what it should be in a karaoke bar. Hori took the microphone from Sakura and turned out to be a pretty good singer. Mikoshiba was almost fired up enough to sign afterwards, but Hori extended the microphone towards Kashima.

And that was it for the atmosphere. The poor girl shrank back into the sofa, her expression suggesting she has just been asked to publicly butcher a cute kitten and claim that was what she did in her free time.

'I can't do that, I'll totally steal the show and it's Nozaki's birthday,' she said but neither her expression nor her tone matched her words. With a sigh, Hori glanced around the group and the kind-hearted Wakamatsu volunteered to sing.

'Hey, Kashima, that's a brilliant idea,' Mikoshiba whispered excitedly. She glanced at him with doubt and he motioned for her to lean closer. 'Let's make Nozaki sing all the time, it's his birthday anyway, isn't it?' he suggested. That way, he wouldn't have to sign at all! And Kashima-

Kashima almost clapped her hands in delight. She leaned to Hori and, probably, forwarded the message to him. The drama club president looked somewhat conflicted, but if he wanted to sing then he was free to do that. Mikoshiba wasn't going to stop him. Instead, he leaned to whisper to Seo and she, being the cruel woman she was, jumped on the idea. Mayu was also in, because that meant he wouldn't have to get up from the sofa. And Sakura agreed if they let her choose the songs. So when Wakamatsu finished and asked who wanted to sing next, a thunderous choir of "Nozaki" shook the room.

Sakura went to choose the song, Mikoshiba brought Wakamatsu up to speed and so began the longest fifteen minutes in Nozaki's life. After that, Wakamatsu and Hori took pity on him and sang a song each and then it was the time to leave the karaoke bar.

Mikoshiba counted that one as his win. Kashima gushed about how Hori-chan-senpai had a lovely voice and Nozaki admitted that bullying could take different forms. So to apologize to him, they took him for another, unplanned dessert.


	6. Stalker

**I've always wanted to write what happens between boxes two and three on the second last page of chapter 54**

 **So if you haven't read until there... well, it's not really a spoiler except for what happens in that chapter...**

* * *

 **Stalker**

When Kashima wondered out loud what Nozaki has wanted from the trip around school at night, Hori pretended he had no idea and hoped she'd drop the topic. She did and he had to agree with her that the conclusion of their trip was rather anticlimactic. Both of them have probably expected that the other, or even better - Nozaki, would eventually get scared by something, but there was nothing to be scared of at school. Perhaps the science teacher, but that was a whole different story.

That being said, he was sure that even he could come up with a scarier story than what Nozaki has told them. For one, he wouldn't put any sappy love plots inside. The truth was that he has spent half of their first walk through the school thinking about possible ghost-story theatre piece scenarios. Perhaps for his last play in Roman Academy he could go for something different than a fairy tale? If nothing else, it would be interesting to see Kashima in another role than a prince.

'Wanna go again? I'll tell you an exclusive ghost story,' he suggested without really thinking through his words. Predictably, she loved the idea, eyes sparkling as she told him she wanted to hear his ghost story. Hori would lie if he said that her adoration wasn't flattering, but he quickly dismissed the feeling and led the way back.

They haven't gone far. They were back in the school in a matter of minutes, this time keeping their outdoor shoes. It was dry outside and they haven't walked off the pavement anyway, so the amount of dirt they would bring in was minimal. And Hori thought the clicking of the feels on the floor, echoing in the silent school was far better for the mood than the soft footsteps they would take in their indoor shoes.

He decided to drop the torch as well, much to Kashima's unhidden delight. Did that girl actually want to be scared? It looked like it and Hori had no idea why. He could never understand Kashima's thought process, but for once she seemed to want the same thing as him and that was good enough. In any case, the sparse lights from the school courtyards provided just enough light to navigate the building and more than enough shadows to keep it mysterious.

Hori could feel Kashima's eager gaze on him all the time, but he kept silent as he led her through the silent, school corridors they both knew so well. Somehow, with the swaying shadows of the trees, they looked different. He took slow, deliberate footsteps and she followed his lead, both of them listening to the echoes of their shoes clicking against the clean floor. Leaves rustled on the wind outside, barely audible through the closed windows.

They were close to the drama clubroom when he stated in a stage whisper:

'You wouldn't see him during the day.'

Kashima actually, literally jumped in surprise, probably snapped out of her thoughts by his words. Hori heard it by the break of pattern of her footsteps and stifled a smile, turning to her with a finger on his lips. For once completely obedient, she closed her mouth and only looked at him with her bright, green eyes glittering with excitement. And Hori allowed himself a brief smile before schooling his expression into one he thought befitted the narrator of a ghost story.

'You wouldn't hear him through the chatter of the students,' he proclaimed in that same, stage whisper, adding a little hesitation into his tone. He looked around and, with the corner of his eye, saw Kashima following his gaze.

'He has long since been forgotten, except for the presidents of the drama club, who share his story with their successors so that nobody makes the same mistake. See, he was a student here, many, many years ago,' Hori said quietly, as though he was sharing a secret nobody was supposed to know. Kashima looked back at him with such complete focus he had to pause to stifle another smile. Damn, he enjoyed her quiet, awed attention more than he should, he knew that.

He briefly hesitated before entering the club room, unsure what the best setting for the story was. The shadows were thicker here and he settled on sitting down close to the entrance, to not risk walking into anything. Not only would it be anticlimactic, but also painful. Kashima followed his lead without question and patiently waited for him to speak.

'His name was Tanaka Yuukine and there was nothing exceptional about him, from his looks to his grades. He had short, dark hair, and skin that was neither too tan nor to fair. He wasn't short but he wasn't particularly tall either. He wasn't stupid, but nowhere close to the smartest in his class. There was nothing he was very good at and nothing he failed. Nothing worth mentioning. Indeed, Tanaka was as normal as a high school boy could be, except he was very shy and quiet.'

Hori paused and glanced at Kashima. She looked genuinely sad for the imaginary high schooler but not scared at all.

'Nobody really paid him any attention and he had the tendency to somewhat fade into the background. He was forgotten when the girls were planning the Valentine chocolates and when the boys were going out to the game arcade after school. Even teachers sometimes forgot to check his homework.'

'Senpai, that's too sad,' Kashima protested, still showing no sign of fright. Hori put a finger to his lips.

'You will scare him if you speak so loud. He's very shy,' he told her and saw her shiver. Finally, he thought, careful to not let any of his triumph show on his face.

'On the day before the summer break, Tanaka-san was helping to tidy up the prop room of the drama club he belonged to,' he stated and paused for the suspense. When Kashima opened her mouth to protest, he put a finger to his lips and she closed her mouth without a word. 'I know what you're thinking and I think nobody really noticed him in the drama club. And that evening they didn't notice he was still in the prop room and he was engrossed in sorting some costumes.'

He made another pause. Kashima was holding her breath.

'By the time Tanaka-san realized he was alone, locked in the prop room, everybody was long gone and all that happened long before mobile phones have been invented. He called out. And called out again. And again. He called until his throat was hurting. And only silence answered. He hit on the door until his hands were bloody.'

Kashima swallowed heavily.

'He was probably asleep when the janitor passed to check that all the doors were closed. He must have tired of shouting and hitting the door eventually. By the time the summer break ended, well - let's just say it was too late. When his body was discovered, the teachers were shocked and the student body scared. For a while he was the talk of the school, but life went on and once again Tanaka-san faded out of their memories. By the time the winter break approached, nobody thought anymore about Tanaka Yuukine,' Hori stated sadly. Kashima, looking straight at his face and at his face only, looked ready to cry. And not scared at all.

Damn it, the idea was to frighten her, he thought. What could he- An idea came to Hori's head. He shifted slightly to make it easier and noticed how Kashima twitched at his unexpected move. She was jumpy, he realized. Good.

'It happened on the day before the winter break. As the drama club's president was closing the rooms, she heard a faint knocking,' he said very quietly and, trying to move as surreptitiously as possible, rapped his knuckles against the floor. Kashima literally jumped on her spot with a squeal, startling him so much that he too jumped. It would have worked well to cover his tracks, but one look at her terrified expression ruined it all: it was too much and he laughed out.

'Hori-senpai!' she exclaimed with indignation, one hand flat over her heart. She has of course realized that he has knocked on the floor, because he laughed, but that moment of panic was going to become one of Hori's priceless memories.

'Sorry, sorry,' he apologized as he calmed down. He didn't feel very sorry though and an idea struck him. 'Me too, I reacted like that when I first heard it, if that's any consolation,' he added in a very matter-of-fact tone. Kashima froze, looking at him with wide eyes, obviously not having expected the continuation of the story. Hori shrugged at the disbelief clearly written over her face, as though he wanted to tell her: "believe me or not but that's the truth."

'There is no ghost in the prop room,' she said finally, but didn't sound too convinced. It was probably a good moment to stop the story.

'I told you it's an exclusive story, didn't I? The previous president told me when he was leaving,' he insisted all the same, in the most sincere tone he could manage. 'Of course, we must have spooked him with shouting and laughing, but Tanaka-san is there. He's always there, knocking on the door in the silence of the night, waiting for somebody to open the door and let him out. And if you forget to lock the prop room, he goes out and follows the students who stay after hours. He can't speak anymore, because of all the screaming he has done, but he taps on the windows, asking for attention.'

It was enough, so Hori stopped talking. Kashima was looking at him, as though trying to judge his honesty and Hori met her eyes with the most honest, most open expression he could manage. She looked unconvinced and Hori resigned himself to defeat.

A loud crash from the prop room startled them both enough so that they jumped to their feet.

'It truly wasn't me,' Hori whispered. It was a real whisper, not a stage one this time, and he didn't even have to fake the slight tremble in his voice. The crash has really spooked him out, to the point where he felt he needed to tell himself that there were no ghosts. There was no ghost in the prop room. Something must have fallen over, although he had no idea why then and not before. There was another possibility, but: 'There was definitely nobody there when I closed the room earlier today. I check every time,' he added half to her, half to himself.

He startled when he felt Kashima's hand in his own.

Tap, tap, tap. Something knocked quietly.

Kashima bolted for the door, pulling Hori with her. Not that he offered much resistance. He focused on keeping up with her, because she was quite a sprinter and had an iron grip on his hand. And on reminding himself that there were no ghosts. Something must have fallen in the prop room and that tapping was probably a branch of a tree against a window. What else could it have been?

All the same, he would only go to check if somebody wasn't trapped in the prop room the following morning. Just to be sure.

'Hah, I never expected Tanaka-san to give me such a scare,' he muttered. They were out of the school grounds, walking towards the train station. Kashima whimpered and let go of his hand in favour of wrapping her arms around his arm. He could feel her shaking.

'I'm never going to the prop room again, Hori-senpai,' she promised.

Hori thought it was the end of the ghost story, until one day, a few days afterwards, he was sitting with Nozaki and Sakura, drawing the backgrounds for the new chapter.

'And so I heard there actually is a ghost at school,' Nozaki said. Sakura jumped up with a funny sort of squeak while Hori only looked up from the background he was drawing. He still didn't believe in ghosts: the noise in the prop room must have been one of the costume boxes that the girls have put back askew. He has gone to check the following day.

'G-ghost at school?' Sakura repeated with a small stutter. Hori had a feeling she would have been an even better audience than Kashima, for his ghost story. Nozaki nodded slowly and looked straight at Hori.

'I'm disappointed senpai: why didn't you and Kashima tell me about Tanaka-san?' he asked. Hori blinked. 'I asked some students later on, not really expecting to find anything. I was ready to give up when some the drama club members, your classmates nonetheless, Hori-senpai, told me about Tanaka-san! They even made me promise to not tell anybody, since it's a secret of the drama club. To think that they would trust me more than senpai did!'

Hori blinked again, processing the words. Obviously Kashima has spread his exclusive story and, when he thought about it for a few seconds, it wasn't really surprising at all. What was surprising was that she has obviously spread it in the drama club rather than among her fangirls. However, how has Nozaki not connected that new ghost story to Hori's phone call, late at night?

'Obviously that is because I knew you were looking for manga material,' he said out loud, unsure what made him want to continue the farce. Perhaps it was Sakura's terrified expression. 'I asked Kashima to not mention Tanaka-san. See, Tanaka-san is very shy, so I don't think he'd appreciate to be put into your story.'

'Who is T-Tanaka-san?' Sakura asked. Listening to Nozaki tell her, Hori noticed some changes already appearing in the story. It was fascinating.


	7. Lost and found

**Lost and found**

Among the assignments for the winter break, the second year students of Roman Academy had to make a report about a particular aspect of life in a historic period chosen by the teacher. They have been assigned the topics in pairs and, prior to the winter break, had to research museum that had relevant exhibitions. During the winter break, they had to visit the museum or museums and start to structure the report. After the winter break, they had three weeks to do some complementary reading in the library, consult with the teacher and finalize the report.

Mikoshiba was, of course, working with Kashima. They teacher hasn't finished saying "work in pairs" before he asked her to work with him and she agreed, of course. Kashima was very bad at saying "no", except when invited to karaoke. Their task was to write about artistic development in the Edo period, in general or in depth about a particular aspect. Ideally, since there was a pair working on that topic in each of the second-year classes, they should make sure that no two topics were exactly the same.

It wasn't really surprising that Kashima wanted to write about the kabuki theatre. She hasn't even really asked his opinion before booking the topic with the teacher. Not that Mikoshiba was going to protest: he had no particular interest in the art of that period and it would be easier if one of them was genuinely interested in their topic. He was more than content in taking the back seat, since the project was enough of a hassle, with the museum trip and subsequent reading.

Funnily enough, Nozaki and Sakura were also assigned the same topic, as Mikoshiba found out really quickly. And so the obligatory museum visit became an excuse for an outing. They found two interesting exhibitions in Tokyo, running throughout the winter break, they agreed on a date and everything was going splendidly until they met in the final room of the second exhibition. They agreed to meet before the exit, since it was reasonable to take a moment to discuss the exhibition before leaving, lest they realize they should double check something.

When Mikoshiba entered the room, he saw Seo and Sakura discussing a painting and Nozaki with his project partner, Nakamura, jotting down some notes. He frowned: wasn't Kashima there already? She has gone ahead at some point and then he got kind of, um, assaulted by that other girl, so Kashima should have arrived first. Right?

'Did Kashima leave already?' he said when he was close enough to the other four to speak normally. They looked at him surprised and then looked around, as though the Prince would pop out from behind somebody in the room.

'Did she say anything about going ahead?' Sakura asked back. 'She was the one the most enthusiastic about heading to a café for parfaits afterwards,' she pointed out. Kashima wouldn't ditch that kind of opportunity, would she? She has even arrived on time at the train station, to catch the early train to Tokyo.

'You didn't go together through the museum?' Seo asked with surprise. 'Come on, you didn't even need to be shy about being seen with a girl or anything,' she mocked him and Mikoshiba felt his cheeks burn with a blush.

'Why would I even be shy about that?' he asked back angrily. 'We went together, but then she wanted to go ahead to-' he trailed off, remembering something. Kashima wanted to skip ahead to go directly the part of the exhibition dedicated to the theatre, didn't she? He hasn't seen her there, though, and he was-

Ah damn, he was so focused on escaping that other girl he has forgotten to pass by the actual part of the exhibition he needed to see. Realizing this, Mikoshiba felt himself blush even more and decided to not say anything about it. He could definitely blame Kashima and her being distracted or something. In any case, she should have arrived before him, right? Did she get lost in the museum or something?

'One of you could try to call her?' Nozaki suggested.

'We all switched out phones off, so that they don't disturb other people in the museum,' Nakamura reminded him. 'Should we just backtrack and find her? She's probably surrounded by some girls anyway, so won't be difficult to spot,' he added, rolling his eyes.

'Let's do that, in case she somehow got lost,' Sakura agreed with a bright smile.

'There are arrows everywhere,' Seo pointed out.

'In any case, I think I need to check the year that nice series of ukiyo-e was made,' Sakura continued as though Seo hasn't spoken. Her friend shrugged and they all went back to the previous room and then the previous. Kashima was nowhere to be seen. Mikoshiba found some ukiyo-e about kabuki and decided to take note of them for later reference, so that he wouldn't feel completely useless. He got into a discussion with Sakura about colour in manga.

Despite looking around for a gaggle of girls or even the tall, handsome Prince on her own, they nearly missed the turn to the kabuki exhibition. To Mikoshiba's defence, for missing it earlier, it was really badly marked and if they haven't suddenly noticed a familiar face, looking worriedly around, they wouldn't have stopped in the right place to see about the only arrow pointing towards the kabuki exhibition.

'Yamada-senpai, what coincidence,' Nozaki greeted the third-year student politely. Yamada looked at them and, inexplicably, his eyes narrowed slightly. Before Mikoshiba could wonder what his problem was, he spoke:

'You guys are coming from the end of the exhibition? You didn't see Hori, did you?' he asked. A thought crossed Mikoshiba's head. 'I had to take a call and he said something but I didn't hear what and when I was done he was gone,' Yamada added with a sigh. Nozaki and Sakura exchanged glances.

'Perhaps he's in the kabuki theatre part of the exhibition?' Mikoshiba suggested and they all went down the short corridor that led to the said part of the exhibition. They were vaguely halfway there when Sakura pulled lightly on his sleeve and asked whether he has even been there at all.

He was spared answering because they arrived. And, sure enough, both Kashima and Hori were there. They haven't seen them arrive at all, engrossed in a discussion. They were half turned away from a set of masks and Kashima was saying something, gesticulating with enthusiasm. Hori laughed shortly and replied with something that made her pout, but only for half a second, before her face lit up again, probably with another, crazy idea.

That boring drama club president could finally own up to his feelings for Kashima, Mikoshiba thought, somewhat annoyed.

'It would be far less annoying if Hori finally admitted he likes the Prince,' Yamada muttered, shaking his head with resignation. Without even discussing it, they backed out of the exhibition and left. And Yamada went with them to have parfaits, instead of Kashima. And it was another two hours before Kashima finally texted Mikoshiba to ask where he was and that she was sorry for losing the track of time and Hori texted Yamada, worried for his classmate's disappearance.

Good they haven't waited, Mikoshiba thought. Although he wished he could have seen Hori's face when Yamada texted back that Hori owed Kashima a parfait, since she was supposed to go with her friends.


	8. Convention

**Convention**

There were people everywhere. People selling merchandise, with "Let's fall in love" standing out with its weird fish mascot. They were surrounded by people queueing to catch a glimpse of the new goodies from their favourite manga or anime, the fish being surprisingly successful. Finally, there were people in cosplay. Since taking Sakura's not-so-subtle hint and leaving Sakura and Nozaki to their own devices Mikoto Mikoshiba has already seen three Mamikos and four Suzukis, as well as two Oze-Waka couples.

'Shouldn't my brother be paying you? His manga is really popular,' Mayu Nozaki muttered unenthusiastically while they watched junior high school girls take photos with a particularly handsome Suzuki cosplayer. Mikoshiba wasn't sure why Mayu even followed to the convention, since he already looked bored of it, but he wasn't going to complain. Like that he wasn't left all alone in the crowd even when he couldn't count on Kashima.

'Uh,' was all Mikoshiba could say to that. He has never thought about it before. He didn't have time figure out anything else, because right then a cute girl came up to them and asked whether Mikoshiba would be ok to take a picture with her. Obviously, that derailed whatever trail of thought he might have been following.

'But- I'm not cosplaying anybody?' he half asked, half stated and watched how the girl blushed bright red. She looked away slightly, one hand coming up to nervously play with her hair.

'I know, but you're really handsome,' she mumbled. He blinked in surprise at the honest answer. 'In reality, I'd like to ask your number and if you maybe want to go out with me,' she added with a small laugh.

'Hey, hey, little girl, are you sure you can handle me?' Mikoshiba replied in his most seductive tone, his best smile lifting the corners of his lips. He half expected the girl to run away screaming, but surprisingly she didn't. She looked back at him and she was still blushing like crazy, but there was a gleam in her eyes and a smile twisting her lips.

'I'm up for the challenge, handsome,' she purred. And Mikoshiba has survived worse, he really has. He has been on the receiving end of stronger counterattacks, especially in the beginning of high school, when he was competing with Kashima. He still snapped out of his flirty persona and backed away, straight into Mayu.

'Please don't bother him,' Mayu said monotonously. His strong arm wrapped around Mikoshiba's shoulders protectively and for some reason Mikoshiba thought it would be a good idea to lean closer to the younger man. The girl's eyes widened almost comically. Her thoughts could have just as well been written out on her face and Mikoshiba jumped away from Mayu, as though burned by the touch.

'It's not what you're thinking,' he yelled in panic. He could feel his face burning with a blush at the very thought she would have misunderstood so badly.

'Make no mistake, we're not in some casual relationship,' Mayu supplied.

'Do you even realize what you're suggesting?' Mikoshiba yelled, turning to the younger Nozaki. 'Was this also Nozaki's idea?' he demanded as the idea struck him. The memories from that mixer he went to with Mayu were still fresh in his mind.

'Mikoshiba? I didn't think I'd see you here,' said perhaps the most unwelcome voice right then.

'K-Kashima?' he asked back, turning to see his classmate, accompanied by none other than Masayuki Hori. Of course, Mikoshiba thought. And yet- they exchanged surprised looks that said: "what are _you_ doing here?" There wasn't really time for anything more though, because:

'Hi Mikoshiba's boyfriend, my name's Kashima. I'm Mikoshiba's classmate,' Kashima said cheerfully and completely unbothered by her own assumption that her best friend was gay.

'He's not my boyfriend!' Mikoshiba protested hotly, feeling the blush on his face intensify. 'Why is everybody pairing me up with guys?' he complained, aware of the slight note of hysteria that crept into his voice. Surely he spent enough time attempting to flirt with girls for everybody to get it that he liked girls, right?

'Isn't it just easier to accept that? Less effort,' Mayu muttered. How could he be ok with that?!

'This is Nozaki's younger brother, Mayu,' Mikoshiba introduced the junior high school student in the calmest tone he could muster, deciding to completely ignore Mayu's words. Kashima frowned slightly.

'Nozaki's younger brother? Aren't you and Nozaki pretty close after all, Mikoshiba?' she asked and it was obvious where she was going with this. Hori whacked her on the back of her head. Far more gently than usual, Mikoshiba noted with interest.

'Stop your nonsense Kashima,' he said sternly and turned to Mayu. 'Nice to meet you, I'm Hori, from Mikoshiba's school,' he added. Mayu nodded and Mikoshiba found himself "translating" the conversation, a little bit like Nozaki had when he and Sakura first met Mayu. And after a few exchanges, Hori also started giving him strange looks and Mikoshiba decided it was time to change the topic.

'That being said, senpai, I didn't expect you to come to a manga convention,' he started. It wasn't the smoothest transition, but it worked. Hori sighed tiredly. He was about to speak, but Kashima was faster.

'I took Hori-chan-senpai here, so that he can buy some shoujo manga,' she proclaimed proudly, bright smile blinding. Mikoshiba smirked, because Hori looked like he was fighting against himself to not hit her. Interestingly, however, there was the faintest blush colouring his cheeks. Surely he wasn't-

'I told you already a thousand times that I am not buying any manga. I'm not interested,' he said through gritted teeth. It didn't really sound like he was being in denial either, just tired of repeating it to a person who never listened.

'But you have that other one, what was its name? "Let's fall in love" - I saw it in your bag the other day,' Kashima countered, but there was a note of hesitation in her voice.

'Let's fall in love?' Mikoshiba repeated with disbelief. How crazy of a coincidence was it that Hori had Nozaki's manga, out of all the shoujo manga out there? And if he didn't like shoujo manga, why did he have that one?

'You went through my bag?' Hori asked at the same time. He sounded rightfully outraged.

'It fell out when you threw it at me,' Kashima protested, perhaps slightly louder than she should have. A few people looked at them. She continued quieter, although probably due to her own uncertainty rather than any desire to be discreet. 'I would never- Uh, I mean, I wouldn't-'

'Kashima,' Hori growled lowly, turning to face her. Kashima took a step back.

'I swear it fell out. I only saw the cover and the autograph,' she said very, very quickly. Mikoshiba froze. The autograph? What the hell? Ok, so he had one in his copy as well, but he had it because Nozaki wanted to thank him for his help and surely Hori-senpai didn't do that. Right?

'Come to think of it, you have one as well, don't you? An autograph of my brother I mean,' Mayu asked suddenly, glancing at Mikoshiba. He completely ignored Mikoshiba's warning glare and went on: 'Is my brother using that as a bribe to get you to-'

Panicked, Mikoshiba pounced, slapping both hands firm over Mayu's mouth. Well, that has been his aim in any case, but it seemed that Mayu had some frighteningly fast reflexes. The world blurred and flew past his eyes and the next thing Mikoshiba knew was that he was on the floor, Mayu on top of him, holding him in some sort of grip. He found himself looking into Mayu's eyes for far too long, before the gazes burning into him registered and he remembered Hori and Kashima and what they have just almost heard.

Kashima looked completely confused as she stared at the two of them on the floor, but Hori was giving Mikoshiba a thoughtful kind of look Mikoshiba particularly didn't like. What was even worse, it wasn't just Hori and Kashima staring. Random people were openly looking at them, worried murmurs slowly spreading. And eventually Hori snapped out of his thoughts.

'Ah, please don't be alarmed. This is just, uh, cosplay of sorts,' he told the impromptu audience in a firm but soothing kind of tone. He even managed to smile a little and when that didn't seem to alleviate the worry of the people around, he elbowed Kashima and the school's prince smiled brightly.

'So this is how it happens in the fifth chapter,' she said cheerfully. She extended her hand to Mayu, as though wanting to help them up. 'Thank you for showing me, I didn't want to believe it when Hori-chan-senpai said it,' she added.

'Yeah, yeah, you should listen to your seniors,' Hori replied in a good-humoured tone and pulled Mikoshiba up. In a whisper, he added: 'Let's change the topic, shall we?' leaving Mikoshiba blinking at him in confusion.

'It was amazing though! When did you learn that? I want to learn it as well,' Kashima was saying to Mayu enthusiastically. And while it seemed to be the last thing the onlookers needed as a proof that things were fine and it was ok to let them be, Mikoshiba was sure he saw Hori literally shudder.

'You definitely don't need to learn that,' the drama club president protested quickly, not giving Mayu time to answer. 'Hey, didn't you want to buy Pocky just a moment ago?' he asked when Kashima looked like she was going to continue the topic. The effect was immediate. Kashima's pout melted away into a bright smile, her posture relaxing. Mikoshiba wondered if it was a sign of too much manga in his life that he could easily imagine a sparkling screen tone all around her right then.

'Let's go to buy some Pocky,' she announced enthusiastically. She even went as far as grabbing Hori's hand before looking at Mikoshiba and Mayu. 'You guys want to follow? There were other sweets as well, so I'm sure you'll find something,' she added.

'They probably want to be left alone, Kashima,' Hori pointed out, pulling his hand out of her grip reluctantly. Kashima blushed slightly and apologized and now Mikoshiba simply had to protest because there was no way in hell he was letting her, out of all the people, think he was gay. She would totally spread it all over the school in less than a day!

'Are there mochi as well?' he asked. Hori looked at him surprised, before obviously realizing his mistake. Kashima was almost sure there were, so they went.

There were mochi. But there were also Mikoshiba's favourite, banana-flavoured Pocky, so he ended up buying those. In fact, they all ended up buying a different flavour Pocky and they all promptly regretted it when Kashima laughed and suggested they play the Pocky game, since everybody felt like having some Pocky. Well, Mayu didn't look bothered, but Hori's expression certainly mirrored Mikoshiba's feelings of horror and panic.

'We can all play together,' Kashima continued, blissfully oblivious to their reactions. 'Like that I can try all the different Pocky! I usually only buy the strawberry ones and Yuzuki only buys chocolate, so it's a great opportunity!'

'We're definitely not doing that! Think about Mikoshiba's feelings if he sees you kissing Mayu!' Hori almost yelled, a furious blush on his face. They were again attracting far too much attention for Mikoshiba's tastes.

'Don't use me as an excuse when it's obviously your problem!' Mikoshiba yelled back nevertheless. And he was blushing as well, but it definitely wasn't because he thought about kissing Mayu. No way!


	9. Piercing

**Piercing**

'I'm wondering if Mamiko shouldn't get her ears pierced,' Nozaki has wondered out loud one evening, not so subtly watching Mikoshiba draw flowers. The object of his observation only made a non-committal noise, too busy with the flowers. Sakura, on the other hand, abruptly stopped working and looked up at Nozaki. She glanced at Mikoshiba, the red crystals sparkling as the boy moved his head slightly.

'Aren't earrings very popular these days?' Nozaki muttered. From his tone it was obvious that he wasn't really expecting an answer, but this time, he was granted one:

'They're pretty fashionable recently,' Mikoshiba replied in a fake-nonchalant tone. He glanced at his two friends with a ghost of a smirk. He deliberately pushed his hair behind his ear, even though it barely obstructed the view on his earring, and then went back to drawing, pretending he wasn't waiting for compliments.

Unfortunately for him, none came.

'Are they?' Sakura asked instead. She sat up a little bit straighter, glancing from one boy to the other, trying to figure out their honest opinions. Mikoshiba muttered affirmative, dejected that his earrings haven't been mentioned. Nozaki hummed thoughtfully and Sakura focused her eyes on him. 'Do you like earrings, Nozaki-kun?' she asked.

Curious, Mikoshiba glanced up to gauge Nozaki's reaction. The mangaka brought a hand to his chin and made another humming sound. Sakura looked like she was about to burst from the suspense of the situation. They stayed like that for the longest time, before Nozaki nodded to himself and Sakura almost jumped on the spot. She was opening her mouth to say something, a bright smile starting to form on her face, but Nozaki beat her to it.

'If Mamiko gets her ears pierced Suzuki and his love rival can compete by buying her the cutest pair of earrings,' he said in a firm tone. Sakura deflated and Mikoshiba looked back at his flowers to hide his smile.

Poor girl, he thought. Briefly, he wondered if he should hint something to Nozaki, but he couldn't come up with anything the idiot mangaka would actually understand and that could, at the same time, be called a "hint" and not "spelling out the truth with capital letters". Ah well.

 **})i({**

'And so,' Nozaki paused, stopping in front of the jewellery shop's window. 'I was wondering which earrings you would choose for Kashima, senpai,' he said. Hori looked thoroughly unimpressed as he glanced from the display to Nozaki.

'Kashima doesn't have pierced ears,' he pointed out dryly. Nozaki sighed with resignation: why wasn't senpai playing along for once? Really, that man had no imagination, Nozaki mourned internally, while Hori looked back at the display with a doubtful expression. 'Anyway, shouldn't you be asking Sakura? She's a girl. Or Mikoshiba: he has pierced ears.'

'Sakura told me she was busy today,' Nozaki replied sullenly. Hori raised an eyebrow at the tone and the expression that went with it. Was that the way Nozaki looked when he was pouting? 'She was very nice to check the school rules for me, confirming that discreet, stud earrings are allowed in our school-'

Ah, did she go to check if she can pierce her ears? Hori wondered.

'She even brought back a jewellery catalogue so that we could look at earrings and she made me rate them all and gave me her ratings so I could see the difference of perception between a boy and a girl-'

Aha, that's all she was doing there, Hori thought, stifling a smile.

'But when I asked if she wanted to go and choose some she said she doesn't have the time today and Mikoshiba also said he was busy,' Nozaki finished. Hori sighed. Suggesting Wakamatsu's help would appear like grasping at straws and really, what was the problem? It wasn't like picking out earrings for the hypothetical purpose of giving them to a girl who didn't have pierced ears was that big of a deal.

'Fine then, let's go in,' he said with resignation. Nozaki's expression immediately brightened

'Thank you senpai, I knew I can count on your-'

'See, I told you it wasn't so bad,' they heard as the door to the shop opened. They nearly collided with a group leaving the shop and the excuses got stuck in their throats when they realized who it was that was leaving: Mikoshiba, Sakura and Kashima. With pierced ears. All of them.

'Ah, senpai,' Kashima greeted him with a sheepish smile. Hori blinked, for once unable to fully focus on Kashima's face: distracted by the metallic spheres sticking to her ear lobes as though glued. They were glued, right?

'Nozaki, what a coincidence!' Mikoshiba spoke eventually. Sakura laughed weakly. She had the same metallic sphere glued to her ear lobes.

'I got so curious I went and pierced my ears, Nozaki-kun,' she said with a perfectly innocent smile on her face. It fell, however, when Nozaki pulled out his infernal notebook and asked, in a business tone, whether it hurt.

'What the hell, Kashima?! Why would you do that?' Hori asked, ignoring Nozaki's interrogation of Sakura. The object of his irritation jumped slightly, looking back at him, the frown at Nozaki's bizarre behaviour replaced by that sheepish smile from before.

'Chiyo-chan was too scared so I did it to show her it was ok,' she admitted. 'Do you like it?' she asked. However, before Hori could answer, somebody from the shop asked them to step away from the entrance, because they were blocking the way.

'Ah, excuse us,' Hori replied, glad for the change of topic and the excuse to lead the whole group away from the jewellery shop. Mikoshiba, Kashima and Sakura were anyway on their way out and for a moment it looked like Nozaki has forgotten why he was there. They cleared the entrance and even took a few steps away from the shop when:

'Senpai, now you can really get Kashima earrings,' Nozaki said out of the blue.

It was impossible to not notice how Kashima has brightened at the idea. She was practically radiating enthusiasm. And of course, after deciding that he was going to be nicer to her regardless of everything else, Hori couldn't quite say that it was out of question. Could he? First, however, Nozaki's absolutely redundant and unwelcome statement warranted revenge.

'Rather than that, how about-' he started.

'-you buy earrings for Sakura,' Mikoshiba finished with him. They exchanged vicious smirks while the other three exclaimed a "what" with various decrees of shock. Mikoshiba nodded. Simultaneously, they slapped their hands against Nozaki's back lightly and pushed: back towards the shop.

'You absolutely don't have to Nozaki-kun,' Sakura stammered with so little conviction that it wasn't difficult to write off the sentence as empty words. In any case, Kashima seemed to pick up on the idea and wrapped an arm around Sakura's shoulders, leading the girl towards the jewellery shop as well.

'Maybe you can get those earrings you liked, Chioy-chan,' she said brightly.

'But I have to wait a few weeks before I can change earrings anyway,' the shorter girl stammered, turning read on the face. Probably only Nozaki didn't notice how much she liked the idea though or how Kashima didn't as much pull her towards the shop as ran to keep up. In no time, the girls were ahead of them and disappeared into the shop.

'What's up with you two?' Nozaki complained.

'If it is buying earrings you wanted, then you can just as well get a pair an actual girl likes,' Hori pointed out. Instead of trying to force me to do something that could be mistaken as romantic, he thought. Nozaki's match-making wasn't the smoothest for somebody who was supposedly knowledgeable in the matters of heart.

'Yeah, no matter how many questions you ask, nothing beats the actual experience,' Mikoshiba added in a tone of an expert. Hori briefly wondered how many gifts he has given to girls and what made him choose that particular argument. Not that it was a bad argument. It was more or less what Hori would have said if Mikoshiba wasn't there.

Could Mikoshiba be aware of Nozaki's "secret" job? Well, it was probable, if Mikoshiba spent as much time around Nozaki as it seemed. Yeah, that was probably that. Mikoshiba didn't seem like somebody who would do the flowers.

Opening the door to the shop, they immediately heard Kashima's enthusiastic voice pointing out three different pairs of earrings in a space of a second. Sakura squealed quietly at one of the choices, but, on the next breath, mentioned a fourth pair. Hori could feel the beginning of a headache creeping up on him. Their arrival was noticed and Nozaki was immediately whisked away by a giddy Sakura and smug Kashima and forced to look at probably all the earrings in the shop.

Maybe he wasn't going to get a headache this time, Hori thought, watching the situation unfold with no small amount of satisfaction.

'Aren't you going to buy something for Kashima, senpai?' Mikoshiba asked after a while. 'You know, she did only get the earrings because Sakura was too much of a scaredy cat to go alone and she did say she wasn't going to keep them probably, but-'

'I got it,' Hori interrupted him with an irritated sigh. 'But I don't want her to get the wrong idea either,' he muttered with hesitation. It has become clear, some time ago, that Nozaki has told Mikoshiba what Hori has told Nozaki, so there was probably no point pretending. His assumption was confirmed when Mikoshiba looked at him in surprise and asked whether it would be the "wrong" idea after all. And so, trying not to blush, he went to look at the earrings as well, pretending to not notice how Kashima suddenly went silent.

'What about those earrings, Sakura?' Nozaki suggested, sounding surprise at having the time to even voice his suggestion.

'Do you like those, Nozaki-kun?' Sakura asked back enthusiastically.

'Well, they are red with white dots, so they kind of seem like your thing,' Nozaki replied in a thoughtful tone. It felt like a wave of cold air blew from the direction where Sakura and Nozaki were standing. Hori bit his lip to not laugh. Next to him, Mikoshiba did the same.

'How about those, Chiyo-chan, Nozaki?' Kashima spoke up. For a brief moment, Hori wished he was there to see what she liked. Then again, she might have chosen something she though Sakura would like to get from Nozaki.

'Hearts?' Sakura stammered. Yup, Hori thought smugly, ten points for intuition for me.

'Hearts?' Nozaki questioned thoughtfully. Curious, Hori and Mikoshiba looked his direction. Sakura and Kashima were also looking at the tall mangaka, gazes intent as though he was going to deliver some ultimate truth to them. Hori felt his eyes widen as he realized that maybe Nozaki finally caught a hint of Sakura's feelings.

They all jumped when Nozaki finally moved. But the only thing he did was pulling out his notebook, muttering to himself.

'Oh come on, Nozaki,' Kashima exclaimed. 'What is so important that you have to note it right here and now?' she asked, crossing her arms with a displeased expression.

Ah damn, Hori thought, Nozaki will surely say the truth.

'Hey, Kashima,' Mikoshiba exclaimed frantically for some reason. He blushed furiously when not only Kashima, but literally everybody in the shop looked at him. Still, he ploughed on: 'Hori-senpai said he wanted to buy you earrings as well, wanna take your pick?'

Hori felt that he was blushing as well, when all the customers of the shop looked at him in turn. He expertly pretended he didn't notice the fond smiles of the two older women or the awed, wide-eyed expressions of the junior-high students clustered by the friendship necklaces. In any case, none of them measured up to Kashima's blinding bright smile.

'It's ok. I completely trust Hori-chan-senpai's choice,' she said cheerfully and turned back to Sakura and Nozaki.

'Uh, that's some pressure on you, senpai,' Mikoshiba muttered.

'Nah, whatever I get, she'll look stunning, so it doesn't really matter,' Hori replied casually. Also, he thought, she would probably really like anything he bought. He wasn't very worried at that point.

A shop assistant arrived at that moment and asked whether he needed any help. Probably, she thought the same as Mikoshiba and the two of them immediately got into a heated discussion over what would suit Kashima, all but forgetting Hori was even there. As a result, Mikoshiba ended up getting new studs for himself, because black was more edgy than red and would definitely suit his dashing personality. That was what the shop assistant said.


	10. Equivalent exchange

**In which Kashima is reading shounen manga and Mikoshiba says something he shouldn't. Clearing one misunderstanding, however, simply creates another, but don't they say that all's well that ends well?**

 **(by now it's a sort of AU, since it definitely won't be how Hori and Kashima end up together)**

 **1 of 3 ;)**

* * *

 **Equivalent exchange**

Mikoto Mikoshiba was a painfully shy person, even if few people actually realized it. When he realized his growing appreciation and then affection for a certain junior-high school student, his first reaction was a horrified panic. It took him a lot of time and quite a few casual meetings with the said student to accept his feelings and to react to the soothing behaviour of the other, who was obviously oblivious to Mikoshiba's feeling. Nevertheless, Mayu Nozaki seemed to take everything in a stride and surely Mikoshiba could learn from him, right?

Then came an unexplained desire to impress Nozaki's younger brother. It started probably around the time when Mayu said he liked the flowers Mikoshiba drew on one of the panels. Playing cool, Mikoshiba laughed it off as something he could easily do, but a part of him enjoying the attention he was getting. And so he thought that maybe he could divert that appreciative attention from his work to his person.

Which brought him where he was currently, shifting his weight from one foot to the other nervously as he waited.

'Help you find nice clothes?' Yuu Kashima replied doubtfully, looking up from the book she was reading. It looked surprisingly like a manga, but Mikoshiba decided to not get distracted. He sat down at his desk and her eyes followed him with unhidden curiosity. 'Aren't your clothes nice enough, Mikoshiba?' she asked and he felt his cheeks grow warmer at the off-handed compliment. He was blushing again, wasn't he?

'Well, they're ok I suppose, but-' he paused to take a deep breath. 'I want to dress well enough to impress and you're the best dressed person I know and I know you'll help me without any ulterior motives or purposefully suggesting bad choices, since anyway you're far more popular than me and nothing I do will change it,' he said in a rush. Kashima looked briefly surprised, before reigning in her feelings and showing Mikoshiba the Prince's best smile.

'My, my, Mikoshiba, are you trying to flatter me?' she asked in a seductive tone. Mikoshiba blushed some more, but she didn't give him time to make any excuses. 'Who are you trying to impress?' she asked and frowned. 'If it's Chiyo-chan I have to refuse, because-'

'Sakura?' Mikoshiba asked in surprise, cutting through whatever she wanted to say. 'Come on Kashima, there's nothing I could do that would make her look away from Nozaki,' he pointed out and that seemed to mollify the Prince, but only for a moment. And when the frown was back it was twice as deep and three times as threatening as before, making Mikoshiba literally recoil in his seat.

'Who are you trying to impress then?' she asked lowly, putting the book away completely and giving Mikoshiba her undivided attention. He shuddered at the intensity of her look, briefly considering admitting the truth before he realized what she really was asking.

'For real, Kashima? Obviously I'm not trying to impress Hori. Stop glaring,' he told her and she did, letting Mikoshiba breathe out in relief. As if that would ever work, he thought.

'Well then, I suppose it's alright,' she said with a bright smile.

'Wait, you are not bothered at all that I might want to impress a guy?' he asked. She looked at him in surprise and Mikoshiba found himself spluttering excuses: 'Not that I want to! Obviously! I totally want to impress a girl!'

'Really, Mikoshiba, it would be very hypocritical of me to be repulsed or even surprised by that, now, wouldn't it?' Kashima said in a surprisingly serious tone. Mikoshiba faltered. Was she saying- But she and Hori- He couldn't quite follow his own thoughts. 'Then again, you might not know I did some experimenting when I first became the Prince of the school,' Kashima added with a giggle.

'You did?' he asked, trying to remember if he could have seen anything that hinted to it. He tried very hard to not imagine too much. Kashima shrugged.

'It never got very serious and became too problematic with the jealousy between the princesses,' she said lightly. 'It got really bad at some point, so Hori-senpai suggested I treat them all equally and it was a really good piece of advice. It's not like I was into it anyway,' she added. Hori knew?! Mikoshiba's mind boggled. She actually told him? Or did he realize on his own? What the hell?! What kind of relationship did the two of them have since the beginning?

'Anyways, young Mikoshiba,' Kashima spoke again in a business-like tone, snapping Mikoshiba out of his confused thoughts. 'I'll help you, but for a price,' she announced.

'Price?' Mikoshiba repeated, glad that he didn't stutter in shock. Kashima nodded and lifted the manga she has been reading. With a frown, Mikoshiba read the title: Fullmetal Alchemist?

'Since all the guys seem to be into girly manga, me and Yuzuki thought that perhaps we're supposed to read manga for boys. Is that some kind of reverse psychology or something? Anyway, this one is pretty good and they have this notion of equivalent exchange,' she said. It didn't explain anything, but Kashima didn't pause for long before adding: 'To gain something you must give something of equal value in return.'

'Equal value? You want my advice on fashion as well?' Mikoshiba asked in confusion. Kashima laughed and waved her hand negative. Mikoshiba frowned. 'Then what?'

'Well, fashion advice is information, right? I want information back,' Kashima paused for the dramatic effect. Despite himself, Mikoshiba couldn't help feeling worried about what it was that she wanted to know. Thankfully, she didn't leave him hanging for long enough to his imagination completely derail from reality: 'I want to know what you and Hori are always doing at Nozaki's place,' she announced firmly.

Which was better than what he feared, but somehow worse.

'What?' Mikoshiba whispered weakly. It wouldn't work to pretend he had no idea what she was talking about, would it? Kashima sat back with arms crossed and an irritated frown on her face and Mikoshiba gulped. Nope, it was probably not going to work, he thought.

'Don't think I haven't noticed. I lost count of how many times Hori-senpai goes to Nozaki's after club activities, sometimes even with Chiyo-chan, or how you always go there after school. Yuzuki told me Wakamatsu also spends unhealthy amounts of time over at Nozaki's, but he doesn't want to tell her why. Chiyo-chan doesn't want to say anything either. Or rather she comes up with lies. And Hori-senpai changed the topic when I asked,' she finished with a pout.

Mikoshiba had enough of self-preservation instincts to not ask her whether she didn't think Hori wanted to keep it secret from her. Really, he has just recently found out that Hori was helping with the manga as well. It came as a shock when he accidentally walked in on the drama club president drawing up the backgrounds and of course he has had to speak too early, betraying his involvement in the manga making process. A rather awkward evening followed and it was even more awkward at school the following day, but if there was one thing he and Hori have ever agreed on it was keeping their volunteering job secret.

He drummed his fingers on his desk, trying to not falter under Kashima's gaze.

Hori would kill him if he said anything, wouldn't he? He knew it wouldn't be fair to give away somebody else's secrets for personal gain, although it was a concept Kashima probably had no notion of. And asking Kashima to keep her knowledge of this secret from Hori was surely a lost cause.

'Do we have a deal, young Mikoshiba?' Kashima asked theatrically.

'What the hell, Kashima? I'm older than you,' he protested, rather than addressing her question. He blushed again, when she only smiled.

'You're clearly my kouhai when it comes to the art of seduction, young Mikoshiba. However, I'm sure we could find clothes that will fit you well enough to woo your boy or girl without you even needing to flirt,' she purred the last part temptingly.

Ah, damn it, Mikoshiba thought. She didn't even blink at the idea he might like a boy and not a girl, surely the mangaka-helper job cannot be more shocking, right?

'It will not be fair on Hori-senpai if I tell you anything about him. But I can tell you what I'm doing at Nozaki's place usually,' he told her. 'And about Sakura too,' he added after a brief pause. After all, Sakura never really wanted to make it a secret, so it was fine, wasn't it?

He conveniently ignored his conscience telling him that from there Kashima would probably figure the rest out.

'It is indeed a noble notion, young Mikoshiba,' Kashima replied at length. 'We have a deal, so start,' she commanded. Mikoshiba recoiled.

'What, now?' he asked, unable to keep the panic from creeping into his voice.

'Why not? The school's over and there's no club today, so as soon as you tell me, we can go to the shopping centre to pick out a couple of outfits,' she replied easily. 'I'm actually sort of looking forward to that,' she added with that bright smile of hers which reduced most of the school's population into incoherent mess. Melting under its influence, Mikoshiba found himself speaking before he fully realized he was doing it.

'I'm helping Nozaki out with his manga,' he said. Immediately the smile was gone and Mikoshiba's heart froze in panic because he hasn't expected that. In a split of a second, his head produced a dozen scenarios, each worse than the previous. Immediately after, he came up with three lies and he was already opening his mouth to laugh off his previous statement when Kashima spoke:

'I thought you wouldn't lie at least,' she said quietly, not even trying to hide her disappointment. She looked away from Mikoshiba and got up with a sigh. 'But I get it: I'm not supposed to know. I'm not that stupid. Now let's get to the shopping centre and get this over with,' she added. Was she going to start crying? No, no, he was simply imagining that. Right?

It sure wasn't a reaction he has imagined. And he definitely disliked Kashima's sad expression. It made him think about cute, abandoned puppies and feel like he has just kicked one. So without thinking much, he jumped up from his place and exclaimed:

'It's the actual truth though!'

'Please, Mikoshiba,' Kashima laughed humourlessly. 'Nozaki writing a manga? What's the title?' she challenged, obviously expecting to expose his lie when he wasn't able to answer quickly enough.

'Let's fall in love,' Mikoshiba answered without a split of a second of hesitation. Kashima frowned slightly. 'He's writing under a fake name though, Sakiko Yumeno. And I'm drawing the flowers and accents for him.'

'You can't draw, Mikoshiba, I saw it,' Kashima countered flatly.

That at least, he could prove wrong, Mikoshiba thought. He told her to give him five minutes and, not waiting for her reply, knowing that sheer curiosity will keep her in place, whipped out his notebook and a pencil. With no time think about the flowers and no need to wonder what they should express, he went for roses, adding some sparkles for the effect. And when he finally looked up to see Kashima's reaction, he was rewarded by unabashed shock gracing her face.

It was a rare look and, mixed with just a little awe he was sure he could see, thus far reserved for Hori exclusively. He didn't even need her to speak to know she was thoroughly impressed and that just about made up for giving up his secret. Hell, actually it more than made up for it, since there were very, very few things he could do better than Kashima. He smirked with satisfaction.

'And so Hori-senpai-' she started slowly and trailed off, an uncertain expression on her face.

'Is doing the backgrounds for the manga,' high on his success, Mikoshiba answered without thinking. Immediately after, he winced as he imagined Hori's reaction when he found out. Man, he will be pissed, he thought.

'For "Let's fall in love"?' Kashima asked. Mikoshiba remembered she has once found the manga in Hori's bag. He remembered this starting the whole "Hori wants to be a princess" delusion and surely there was something he could do to mollify the imaginary, fuming furious Hori in his head.

'Yeah, so that's why he has it bookmarked. I don't think he's really interested in the story or anything, but he keeps the bookmarks to backgrounds, so that they don't change next time he needs to draw them,' he said quickly. He was almost hundred percent sure it was the truth.

There, Hori-senpai, he thought, perhaps Kashima will stop buying you skirts and high-heels. That was equivalent exchange, wasn't it? He made sure to remember that argument for when Hori confronted him about Kashima's new knowledge.

'Now that's certainly interesting,' Kashima said in a cheerful tone. Her brilliant smile was back as though it has never been gone in the first place. And a horrible thought bloomed in Mikoshiba's head: has this all been an act to get the info about Hori-senpai out of him?

'Kashima, you-' he trailed off. There was no way she'd admit to anything, was there? And she was a really, really talented actress. He would never know which version was the truth.

'Come on, Mikoshiba, let's get you dressed up! I have some ideas I'd like to try,' she exclaimed cheerfully, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the classroom.

Well, Mikoshiba thought, at least she hasn't made a scene about him helping with the manga. She hasn't asked anything more and hasn't started treating him any differently or, or- He shuddered at the very thought: she hasn't realized he was an otaku.


	11. Secret

**2 of 3**

* * *

 **Secret**

Kashima was plotting something. She was unusually discreet about it but she has said a cryptic "I'll surprise you, Hori-senpai" that one day on the train in the evening and refused to elaborate. And nothing happened the following day or the day after. She was unusually attentive and punctual for the club meetings and she gave up on trying to make him play the princess in the newest play and Masayuki Hori couldn't even enjoy the sudden change of pace because she. Was. Plotting. Something.

When nothing has happened for a week, Hori decided that maybe the attendance in club meetings was the surprise. Already a while ago something happened, although Hori had no idea what, making her arrive to the club meetings on her own and roughly on time. She was always late to everything, so he was prepared to cut her some slack there, seeing as she did come on her own. Now, however, it was a week that she arrived exactly on time and didn't even bring any of her fangirls along.

Preparing the props for the next play became such a pleasant work without the continuous screaming and shouting and small disasters cropping up by a dozen each day. It was definitely a nice surprise and Hori decided to let Kashima know, on their way home. She laughed in reply.

'That's not at all my surprise, Hori-senpai,' she told him, green eyes sparkling. 'But if it means so much to you, I can keep it up,' she added brightly and it almost made up for the dread that crept up on Hori. If this wasn't the surprise than what was? What kind of elaborate and spectacular scheme required so much preparation from the Prince?

'Ah, yes, especially the lack of your fangirls,' Hori muttered, trying hard to not overthink the situation just yet. After all, he would have a sleepless night to ponder the impending doom. 'How did you manage to convince them to not come anyway?' he asked. He has tried everything: shouting, threatening, negotiating, bribing… Outright closing the club room worked best, but it became annoying to have to open for every club member who was either late or sent to get something or even going to the toilet.

'Ah that,' Kashima laughed. She sounded incredibly proud of herself as she explained: 'I told them that you promised the next outsider to show up in the clubroom during club hours would be cast as the ugly witch that curses the prince to die in the next play.'

And not only did Hori not sleep a wink that night, but the following day he became aware of the vaguely hostile glances some of the girls were giving him.

Reluctant to alerting Nozaki to a potential manga-worthy material, Hori didn't mention Kashima's secret plan at all during the time he spent working on the manga. He tried, as subtly as he could, to probe Sakura's knowledge about this but the girl was either completely oblivious or a better actress than he gave her credit for. Or he wasn't asking the right questions.

Hori has even considered asking Mikoshiba about it, the guy being Kashima's best friend after all, but it seemed that the relations between them became more strained rather than more relaxed recently. He would have thought that the initial shock and embarrassment about being caught as a mangaka helper, especially when their mutual involvement in the doll house has been revealed, would have faded with time. And for a while it seemed like it would, but then suddenly Mikoshiba started to stiffen when Hori arrived at Nozaki's, his question of "how was your day Hori-senpai?" asked in such a high pitch it screamed of Mikoshiba's desire to hide. He would watch Hori like a deer could watch a hunter. When Hori would say that his day was ok, Mikoshiba would sigh in relief and deflate for a moment, before becoming excessively cheerful and doing everything to not let anybody ask him about his stressed expression moments before.

Come to think of it, didn't Mikoshiba's weirder-than-usual behaviour start more or less around the time Kashima promised her surprise? Hori realized that with a shudder of terror one morning. It could only mean that Mikoshiba knew of Kashima's plan and thought Hori wouldn't approve. Well, "wouldn't approve" was probably putting it mildly, considering Mikoshiba's behaviour.

That day they had no club activities and Hori has planned to go to Nozaki's earlier and maybe finish earlier to get a good night's sleep, maybe. Well, so much for that plan, he thought dejectedly, wondering if the pharmacy would sell him sleeping pills. The last three or four days, since Kashima told him her attendance and diligence was not the surprise, he hasn't slept so well. It was steadily getting better, because there were only so many horrifying scenarios his brain could come up with, but surely the new revelation he has just had would magnify the problem.

He was even considering skipping out on Nozaki and going straight to the pharmacy, when Kashima ran up to him.

'Would you like to go for a parfait, senpai?' she asked, expression and tone perfectly innocent. She matched his pace perfectly. Hori would have thought that was it, her plan was complete and she was going to unravel her secret surprise, but she was dressed in her school uniform and not in one of the club's costumes. She didn't seem to be carrying anything else than her school bag either.

'I can't today, I need to do some things,' he replied, purposefully vaguely. If she knew he was going to Nozaki's, she would insist to follow. And if he said anything about pharmacy, she wouldn't leave him be until he told her everything or a convincing enough story.

'Can I help you? If we work together we'll be done quickly and can eat parfaits to celebrate,' she countered, taking him off guard. She has never proposed to help anything and when Hori looked at her he could clearly see she was serious about her offer. Unable to stifle the fondness he felt, he smiled at her.

'It's nothing you can help with, Kashima, but thanks for offering,' he said kindly.

'No, really, Hori-senpai,' she insisted. Exasperation replaced fondness as it often did when Kashima was concerned, but she ploughed on before he could say anything. 'You're going to Nozaki's, aren't you? You always go there. If I help you with the backgrounds we can be done in half the time it usually takes you.'

It took a moment for the words to sink in, their meaning filtering through exasperation, fondness and all the other feelings Kashima evoked in him. When they finally registered, they hit him like a whiteboard. Not that Hori knew how it felt to be hit with a whiteboard. He stopped with a stagger and looked at Kashima with wide open eyes.

'What?' was the only word he could somehow force past his lips. Kashima stopped as well and looked at him with a smile.

'I bought the books that were out and I studied all the backgrounds you drew, senpai,' she explained, completely misunderstanding his question. Or maybe not. Hori found it difficult to focus through the sudden whirlwind of thoughts clamouring for his attention. 'They are really nicely done, senpai, probably the best about that manga. Don't tell Nozaki, but I don't think I'm really into that kind of stories. Well, Mikoshiba's flowers aren't half bad either. I tried to draw them for fun, but don't tell Mikoshiba either, ok? You can keep a secret, right senpai? Anyway, I was saying: I redrew all the backgrounds you did-'

She was pulling out a stack of papers from her bag and Hori accepted them numbly.

'If you think they're good enough, I could maybe go with you to Nozaki's and draw a part of the backgrounds, so that we could hang out afterwards,' she finished, fidgeting under his incredulous gaze. Because it was the easiest thing to do, Hori looked down at the backgrounds she drew.

They were impeccable. Of course. He looked through a few pages, more to buy himself some time to compose his thoughts than out of any real desire to verify her work. Almost subconsciously he noted some, small mistakes and was about to point them out, along with advice on how to avoid them in the future, when his brain finally restarted some semblance of functioning.

'How do you even know about it?' he heard himself ask.

'Mikoshiba told me,' Kashima laughed quietly. And promptly, she proceeded to give him far more details than he ever wanted: 'But don't be angry at him. He came to ask for help with fashion. Can you believe that? He's the one with all the fashion magazines! Anyway, since I was reading that manga about alchemy, I asked him to tell me what you're all doing at Nozaki's in exchange. He didn't want to tell me about you in the beginning, but I didn't believe him when he said he was working on manga and then I kind of abused his emotional burst or something.'

It didn't fully make sense. Which was not exactly uncommon with Kashima, but there was something off about the way she was speaking. Was Kashima nervous? She sure looked nervous when Hori finally lifted his gaze from the pages of copied backgrounds. She was still fidgeting and if he wasn't so stunned by the situation he would probably take out his calendar to mark the date.

'Ok, ok, but you know: I have a deal with Nozaki. I get something in return for helping him. Why would you want to waste your time doing this?' he asked. Kashima bit her lip. Was Hori hallucinating or was she blushing? She really was, he realized, when she finally met his eyes with a shy smile. The date was becoming more and more mark-worthy.

'Me too, I want to spend more time with senpai,' she admitted, blushing some more. If Hori knew she was referring to his drunken confession he would have burned in shame, but for the moment the shock of the situation was too much to even notice the little "too" in her sentence. He could only stare as she laughed quietly, briefly. 'Senpai is always so busy with the club, but even without it, senpai is always spending time with Nozaki and the others, to make manga it seems. So I thought if I could maybe help with that then senpai would have some time for me.'

'Kashima,' Hori whispered, unsure how to continue.

Looking at the new Kashima, shy and uncertain, it was very difficult to focus on any thought long enough to analyse it. Vaguely, he was aware that his heart was thumping in his chest, faster and louder than could possibly be healthy. The heat on his face was probably a blush, but what was the warmth slowly spreading inside?

The silence was shattered when Kashima laughed again and said that, despite everything, Hori-chan-senpai was the cutest princess she has ever seen. And it was so easy to roll the stack of papers with backgrounds and whack her on the head with it: far easier than addressing her words from before.

'I am not a princess,' he ground out through gritted teeth. But he was thrown off balance by her reply again.

'I know, I know,' she laughed. She knew? Then- 'I realized that Mikoshiba was probably right when he said you're not really interested in being the heroine in shoujo manga. I'm sorry for trying to make you into one,' she added, scratching the back of her head with a sheepish expression.

Mikoshiba has said what?! Hori was certainly going to have a word with him.

'Although in my heart you'll still be my princess, no matter what,' she added. There was no trace of her previous expression and no remorse in her voice anymore.

'Kashima,' Hori growled. She didn't seem to notice, or in any case paid it no heed. Instead, she grabbed his free hand with both of her hands and leaned close to him with a wide-eyed, pleading look on her face.

'Can I go with you to Nozaki's?' she asked urgently. 'I promise I'll be good and I'll do everything you say and I'll help with whatever you need me. It's just that I really, really wanted to show Hori-senpai that new café nearby because I think you'd really, really enjoy it. They have this matcha cake that's not so sweet at all and also the sesame cookies. And I really, really wanted to spend some time with Hori-senpai.'

She really didn't need to make all those excuses and promises, Hori thought numbly. There was no way he could refuse her anything, not when she was giving him that look, with those green eyes of hers glittering with hope and adoration and that faint blush dusting still her cheeks. It was a terrifying realization.

Hori swallowed thickly.

'As if you would listen if I said no,' he said, proud that his voice was steady and his tone nonchalant even in this situation. Kashima literally squealed in joy and even went as far as hugging him briefly with one arm, not letting go of his hand. And Hori started to realize that they were still in the middle of the school's courtyard and that their interaction has started to draw attention at some point, by now resulting in quite an audience. Why that realization hasn't made him shake his hand free from her hold, when he knew exactly how this would be misunderstood, was a question he didn't really want to find the answer for. The fact was that he let her lead him out of the school grounds and he simply knew that, by the following day, the school would be full of rumours about the Prince dating some short guy. And by the end of the following day, his identity as the third-year president of the drama club would also be known to everybody and that was really far more attention than he has ever planned to bring to himself.

Well, if that kept the fangirls at bay during the rehearsals…

Plus, Mikoshiba's expression when Kashima showed up at Nozaki's was definitely worth bringing her along.

* * *

 _And it would take Hori and Kashima about a month before they realized they were actually dating and not only making the whole school think they were XD (ah, that was really, really not planned when I started writing this)_


	12. Concert

**3 out of 3**

* * *

 **Concert**

None of his classmates believed it, when Hori tried to tell them that no, he was not dating the Prince. They only laughed that he was still in denial even after Kashima confessed to him and in the middle of the courtyard nonetheless. Hori couldn't refute that claim without explaining what their conversation has been about. And somehow, he found himself reluctant to tell people he was involved in making a girly manga: they would surely make it into some sort of joke, especially considering his handsome "girlfriend" and how she has tried to make Hori wear woman's clothes. If they even believed him that is.

Resigned, Hori let them think what they wanted and somehow the fact that Hori was supposedly dating the most popular person in the whole Roman Academy became just that: a fact. Well, it wasn't a "fact", because it was a lie but it seemed to be a lie the whole school believed. The funny thing was that nothing really changed. Sure, for a week or so the school was buzzing with rumours. How could it not be when the illustrious Prince was "dating" an unassuming, unimpressive third-year student? Afterwards, however, life more or less went back to normal.

Really though, things have changed. For one, Kashima's fangirls, who still fawned over her at every chance they got, dispersed as soon as Hori came into view. Kashima's puzzled expression the first few times that happened made Hori start to suspect she had no idea what was going on. Could it be that nobody has confronted her about the "dating"? He wasn't sure he should. Kashima had an innate gift of misunderstanding and things were going well enough: she was attending club rather diligently for a while already and she has stopped pushing for Hori to reveal his girly side since she found out he was working for Nozaki. Hori didn't want to spoil them over rumours.

He didn't particularly want to see her at Nozaki's again. She was good, alright. She did half of the backgrounds that day and assimilated all the comments Hori had immediately. However, just because she could work while incessantly chatting, it didn't mean the others could. Mamikoshiba in particular has done very little work that day, too busy being ashamed of his words after letting Kashima draw him into matches of verbal seduction. Thus, Hori made a deal with Kashima: she would let the others make the manga and Hori would make sure he had one afternoon/evening a week to meet her somewhere and do things.

This, he realized afterwards, was exactly what dating was. But it was too late to change his mind, because Kashima was positively ecstatic at his proposition. And it didn't really count when one of them was unaware it could be dating, did it?

'Hori-chan-senpai,' Kashima burst into his classroom one morning about a month after her "confession". She was radiating happiness more than usual and completely ignored the way everybody looked at her for a split of a second before badly pretending they were busy with something else and not at all listening in on the conversation. Or perhaps she really didn't realize.

'Good morning to you too, Kashima,' Hori replied in a mocking tone. All the same, he wasn't able to keep warmth out of his voice entirely, because she was somewhat endearing when she was happy like that. Surely everybody with a working brain would agree with him.

'The tickets arrived,' she announced cheerfully. 'Anyway, I have to run or I'll be late for homeroom, I just wanted to tell you the good news,' she added.

'It could have waited till lunch time. Aren't we eating together today?' Hori pointed out mildly. He tried to not remember how it happened that he and Kashima started having lunches together. It was that one time when Nozaki asked Hori whether he wanted to join "them" for lunch and "they" turned out to be Kashima, who has been stood up by Sakura. Right, not suspicious at all. But somehow they have both enjoyed it and did it occasionally since then.

'That's far too long to keep news like that to myself,' Kashima laughed. 'Anyway, see you for lunch Hori-chan-senpai!' she exclaimed and left with a cheerful, goodbye wave. She was barely gone when half of Hori's class descended upon him like vultures praying on gossip.

'Where are you going, Hori-chan-senpai?' Takechi asked, mocking Hori for the way Kashima was addressing him. As if it wasn't bad enough that they were adding "chan" to his name in normal circumstances! Hori clicked his tongue in annoyance.

'Some rock concert in two weeks or something,' he said with deliberate nonchalance. He knew that the group was very popular and mentioning the name would only prolong that unnecessary discussion. Ostentatiously, he went about unpacking his bag for the day, but it didn't stop the follow-up questions from coming.

'A rock concert? How did that happen? Aren't you more into jazz, Hori-chan?' Takechi asked. Trust him to remember and point out the discrepancy.

'In two weeks? Oh gosh, don't tell me you're going to see Muse?' one of the girls exclaimed. 'I wanted to see them too, but the tickets sold out too fast. They started the sale during the day, when I was at school. And so before I could log in they were gone,' she complained.

'Whatever,' Hori muttered, immediately hoping nobody heard. It wasn't a very polite thing to say after all, no matter that he really didn't care about the band. He cleared his throat and said louder: 'I don't care much about rock music, but Kashima and her sister really like Muse and Kashima pretty much told me we're going,' he admitted. After she has bought the insanely expensive tickets also, he thought. Then, realizing how that sounded, he quickly added: 'Anyway, they're pretty good performers, so it will be interesting to see them.'

'Right, right, Hori-chan, keep telling yourself you're not just going along because your hot girlfriend asked you out on a date,' Takechi laughed. A few others echoed his laughter and some expressed their jealousy, either over dating the Prince or going to see Muse live.

'It's not a- ah damn it, how is it a date if her sister's coming as well, along with some friend of hers?' Hori asked angrily.

'A double date!' somebody exclaimed and Hori wished he could take back his last statement. At the very least, he was saved from replying the arrival of the teacher.

 **})i({**

'My sister cannot go to see Muse after all,' Kashima said out of the blue, two days before the actual concert. Mikoshiba looked up from the notes he was re-reading before the probable test supposed to happen during their next lesson.

'What happened?' he asked. Kashima's younger sister was the source of endless amusement with all the stunts she pulled, more or less successfully. Like that time when she has wired her school's communication system to relay the discussions from the teacher's office. Or that time when she turned up at school in a full-body Pikachu costume, because her best friend has dared her.

Between the incorrigible, flirty "Prince" and the worst prankster of the school, Mikoshiba wasn't sure how Kashima's parents have remained sane.

'Parents caught her sneaking out to a party and she's grounded for a week,' Kashima replied lightly and laughed. 'I told her to keep a low profile, but no, she never listens. So, hey, Mikoshiba, do you want to take your secret boyfriend to see Muse? I have two tickets to spare.'

Mikoshiba spluttered. He wanted to say "I don't have a boyfriend" and "don't say something like that out loud" at the same time and nothing intelligible came out. Instead, he choked on his own spit, in his shock forgetting that breathing and swallowing at the same time was a bad idea. Kashima laughed and patted his back.

When he could breathe properly again he almost asked why she didn't ask any of her princesses before remembering she was going with Hori. He bit his tongue, literally, in the last moment and Kashima watched with amusement, how his eyes teared up from the pain of it.

'Are you trying to kill yourself, Mikoshiba?' she asked. 'You don't need to be so bashful about it. It's not like it's a date or anything, you know? You'd be going with me and Hori-senpai as well after all so it'd be more like friends hanging out.'

'Yeah, about that,' Mikoshiba mumbled. He wouldn't have minded to go out with Mayu and if he could disguise it as an outing with friends then it was even better for him. He could hope to not spend the entire time blushing. However, there was the problem of the "friends" he would be going with. So: 'Don't you want to go alone with Hori? Since you guys are actually dating,' he pointed out, keeping his voice as steady as he could. Kashima looked at him in surprise.

'Dating?' she repeated after a moment of silence. 'Are we?'

'Are you not?' Mikoshiba asked back incredulously. Hori has been fairly strict on the new schedule of manga helping, allowing him the minimum of one evening per week with Kashima. Surely that wasn't just the desire to eat desserts, was it? He didn't like sweets in the first place. 'At the very least you can't deny you confessed to him. Half the school saw it,' he pointed out.

She laughed, an uncharacteristic blush colouring her cheeks.

'That's what everybody says, isn't it? The princesses were rather miffed for a while. I think they still are, since they disappear whenever Hori-chan-senpai shows up. But anyway, it wasn't really a confession, you know. I just told him I wanted to spend some time with him. Then again, I suppose, if I think about it, I am meeting Hori-chan-senpai on regular basis and we are going out to places just the two of us,' she trailed off thoughtfully. Then a bright smile lit up her face. 'Hey, Mikoshiba, I'm dating Hori-chan-senpai! Isn't this awesome?' she asked, eyes literally sparkling with wonder. Mikoshiba looked at her incredulously and shook his head. How was it possible to not realize such an important fact?

'Good for you,' he muttered. He briefly wondered whether she'd now run around the whole school to inform everybody about it, but surprisingly, Kashima deflated.

'Do you think Hori-chan-senpai realized we're dating?' she asked, wide-eyed. What did one even reply to that? Not that she gave him any time to reply before continuing: 'If he hasn't and I tell him, he might get spooked. Don't you think? I don't want Hori-chan-senpai to stop meeting me when he realizes it can be understood as dating.'

She drummed her fingers on his desk. Unsure what advice to give, or whether he should even give any advice, Mikoshiba waited. He went back to his notes even, so he missed how Kashima's face brightened again: smiling and care-free.

'Let's not tell him then! You'll keep the secret, right, Mikoshiba?' she asked. He nodded, even though internally he was wondering how this could be called a "secret" if the whole school knew they were dating.

Whatever.

'Let's have a double date,' Kashima exclaimed and Mikoshiba made an ugly line all across a page of the notebook when he flinched, both from the volume and the actual words. He blushed when their classmates looked at them curiously and protested in a hiss, but there was no dissuading Kashima once she got an idea into her head.

And so they had a double date. Because it was a "secret" from Hori-senpai, Kashima never said it out loud again, not even when she has dragged Mikoshiba to the shopping centre to buy new, awesome outfits. None of them really behaved like it was a date either, but it didn't matter. It was a date. It went fairly well too, even when Kashima admitted she chose the places on the terrace so that Hori could also see the concert, obviously hinting on the fact that he was too short to see anything from the crowd on the plate.

Mikoshiba never listened to rock before, but he was considering starting to, if only for the memories of that "double date". The music was great and the show was awesome. Watching Hori and Kashima look at each other when the other one was not looking was incredibly amusing too, and so manga-like Mikoshiba would tell Nozaki about it if Hori wasn't part of the manga team. Because then Hori would surely tell Nozaki about how close Mikoshiba and Mayu have been standing to each other during the concert and how Mayu leaned against Mikoshiba to sleep when they took the train back. Well, at least he has taken a photo of Kashima and Hori holding hands as a countermeasure, should Kashima choose to use the photo she took of him and Mayu sleeping on the train for blackmail.


End file.
